LARNED — Yogi Berra had the famous line, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” Never was that more true than here Tuesday evening as the Haven girls used a last-second out-of-bounds play to score a bucket by freshman Sara Yutzy and edge by the rapidly-improving Larned Indians, 58-56, in a key Central Kansas League contest.
Larned’s Kelsey Parr had nailed a long 3-pointer with 11 seconds remaining to tie the game at 56.
Haven inbounded and got a shot off with three seconds remaining that was rebounded by Larned’s Parr but she had a foot on the out-of-bounds line and the Wildcats got the ball underneath their own basket with 1.5 seconds on the clock. Coach Dwight Roper called timeout and designed the in-bounds play which worked perfectly.
The two teams battled with streaks in the first quarter. Larned raced out to a 10-0 lead only to have Haven score 9 quick points, leaving the Indians with a slim 11-9 first quarter margin. The game remained close as both teams struggled with turnovers and Haven seized a 25-24 halftime advantage.
The Wildcats dominated the third stanza, outscoring Larned 20-8 and looked to be comfortably in control of the game but Larned kept their heads and battled back in the fourth quarter to gain that tie with 1.5 seconds left. Larned would outscore Haven 24-13 in that fourth quarter.
Larned coach Ashley Crosby was disappointed with the loss but said, “We’re getting there. I told the girls to be proud of their effort. Every game we’re getting better and we are finding out we can compete, and win, with good teams.”
Haven’s Emmiley Hendrixson, a 5-3 junior guard was on fire from the 3-point line, canning six for the game. She would lead the Wildcats in scoring with 26 points. Faith Paramore chipped in with 10.
Larned was led in scoring by Haley Skelton with 21 points. She was 8 of 10 from the free throw line. Katie Fischer added eight and Ivory Muldrow nine for the Indians.
Haven (5-3, 2-1 CKL) will host Hillsboro in a CKL game Friday. Larned (3-6, 1-2 CKL) travels to Pratt for a CKL game Friday.