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It was a thrilling finish to tonight’s Avon at Westlake game that saw a possible winning shot by the Eagles narrowly miss, securing the 28-27 victory for the Westlake Demons. It was billed as a battle of two of the better defensive teams in the SWC and it certainly lived up to that billing.
Brook Laub of Avon led all scorers with 10 points, but no one else on either team came close to double digits. A key battle was Abby Liber of Avon matching up with Morgan Kress of Westlake. Both young ladies used a great deal of energy guarding the other. Liber would finish with 2 points, while Kress had 7 points with 3 of them coming at the line. They committed to defense, and it showed.
Brooke Laub scored the first five points of the game to get the Eagles out to a 5-0 lead. Westlake didn’t score until 4:33 left in the first on a Gardner drive. The quarter would end 7-2 Eagles as it was all defense.
After a Summer Salem three ball for the Demons made it close, the Eagles went on a run and extended their lead to 15-5 when Grace Santee nailed a three-ball midway through the second quarter. Avon didn’t score again, and the Demons closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to make it 15-14 at the break. Those 9 points coming off of another Salem three ball, combined with foul shots from Anna Williams, Morgan Kress and a put back by Abbie Gardner.
The third quarter may have been the lowest scoring quarter in SWC history as both teams played air tight defense and clamped down on everything. Westlake was held to one point, and didn’t have a single field goal. Avon wasn’t much better as they only scored 4 points, with two of them coming off Brooke Laub fouls shots. The only field goal of the entire quarter came from Alyssa Peganoff. This gave the Eagles a 19-15 lead with one quarter to play.
A few minutes into the quarter, down 21-16, Westlake’s Gigi Redinger, the hard-working Senior, got hot. In less than 30 seconds she hit a three ball, then a running jumper to tie it at 21. After Avon reclaimed the lead at 23-21, A Taylor Gregory three pointer gave the Demons their first lead of the game at 24-23. With 90 seconds left, Morgan Kress nailed two foul shots to make it 26-23 and that’s when things get ultra-interesting.
From there both teams swapped baskets, making it 28-25 with 36 seconds to go. After Ana Williams missed the front end of a one and one, Peganoff took it full court and made it 28-27. It was white knuckle time for both teams.
The Demons had a chance to get back to the line but threw the ball away with 10 seconds remaining. Coach Rojeck of Westlake had fouls to play with and used them very well. The Demons fouled twice to cut the clock down to 4.2 seconds. The Eagles had one last chance to win it but a Liber driving shot missed with Gardner covering her briskly. It was a bang bang play.
Congrats to both teams on a great start to the season. The final play of the game can be seen here.
Here's the finish of @basketballavon1 at @WHSLadyDemonBB . What a game! pic.twitter.com/GJVhxNM5t5
— KeeOnSports (@SportsKee1) December 24, 2020
