by LAGRANGE, OH – What a wild game as the Keystone Wildcats held off a late rally from the Amherst Comets to score 5 points in the remaining seconds to cling to a 50-47 thrilling victory. Maddy Sokolowski led all scorers with 29 points including 12 in the fourth quarter to secure the win.
The future is so bright in Lagrange as they had all their points come from underclassmen in this one as Jayda Gaines scored 10 while Sophia Clarico had 7 and Kendal Crabeels had 2. Also scoring 2 was Kaitlyn Lamb.
The Comets were led by the dynamic duo of Abby Broaddus with 17, including 9 of which that came in the fourth quarter during the wild comeback. The second half of the incredible duo is Amalee Caldera who had 16. The two combined for 8 made three pointers and hit big shots late to almost win the game for the Comets. Grace Bender finished with 8 while Sara Hussein-Bey had 4 and Callie Beckler finished with 2.
The game was razor thin close as they entered the fourth with Keystone up 31-30 and that is where things became very interesting as both teams finally broke the lid off the hoop and shots starting falling fast and furious.
It began about a minute in when Maddy Sokolowski answered a Bender putback for Amherst with a Keystone three ball to increase their lead, ever so slightly at 34-32 with 6:51 left to play. After a Hussien-Bey foul shot cut the lead to 1, a beautiful rotation from the Wildcats left Sophia Clarico wide open to drain one from the top of the three point arc, extending the lead to 37 – 33 with 5:46 to play, and we were just getting started.
Sokolowski grabbed a rebound, controlled the court on the break and found a slashing Jayda Gaines who took it in for another 2 points. Up 6, the Wildcats went to a full court press out of the Comet timeout which led to an eventual turnover, on the break back, Sokolowski remained composed with two lady Comets coming right at her after fielding a pass from Gaines and buried yet another three ball, to increase the lead to 42-33 as they suddenly led by 9 points with only 4:41 to play in the game.
Down 9 with under five minutes to play, the Comets began to feel the pressure to make a comeback late and did so. It began with a three in the corner from Abby Broaddus as they cut the Wildcat lead to 42-36 and gave the Comets points they badly needed. Broaddus and the Comets weren’t done as she buried another three ball from almost the exact same spot on their next trip down the court, and just like that they only trailed 42-39 as an instant classic was starting to shape up.
After a Gaines foul shout made it 43-39 Wildcats, it was Broaddus doing it again from the corner as she buried a three for the third straight trip down the court, as we now had a 43-42 game on our hands as Abby had scored 9 points in under a minute. It was the Wildcat leader and floor general Sokolowski quickly calming everyone down by sinking two foul shots to push the lead out to 3.
The game stayed at 3 points until Amalee Caldera found separation, got wide open and drained one from deep to tie the game at 45 a piece with 1:36 to play. Still tied with 1:05 to play, the Comets Callie Beckler went to the line and made both, to hand the Comets their first lead of the quarter at 47-45 with only 62 ticks of the clock left.
The Wildcats needed a big shot and got one from Sokolowski in the form of two Wildcat made free throws to tie it back up at 47 with 50 seconds left to play. Now, all tied up with 11.2 seconds to play, the Wildcats broke their timeout and ran a picture-perfect inbounds play that gave Sokolowski a lane to the hoop which she took to make the layup and win the game! She shot down the lane like a cannon and played the baseline perfectly to score from underneath with the layup. Moments later, a Gaines foul shot sealed the game for good.
The Comets will look to bounce back this Wednesday as they host North Ridgeville to open up SWC Play. For the Wildcats, they look to remain hot as they travel to Oberlin this Monday night.
