Amherst Defeats Avon Lake in Overtime Thriller!

Cover photo by Amanda Darmos

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Last year in our year end awards I told everyone to keep their eyes out for the Amherst Comets.  Sometimes records don’t always show the true talent and heart of a team and tonight was the perfect example of that for the Comets.  They blew a fourth quarter lead late, and it looked like it may be over before they rallied and then won in overtime 55-53 over conference foe Avon Lake. That takes more than just talent, it takes heart and they showed that tonight.

I also said in the year end articles, watch out for Kristen Kelley and she showed everyone again tonight.  The sensational sophomore finished with a game high 23 points for the Comets.  She rebounded, she assisted, she hit foul shots and she buried three’s.  Kelley is one dynamic ball player!

The Comets as a team lit up the nets from long range.  As a team, the Comets had 9 from long range and also sunk 11 from the charity stripe, proving they could beat you a number of different ways. Roberts, Kelley, Ferancy, Pleban, Silvasy, Cruz and Darmos all saw the stat sheet.

Avon Lake had a huge night from their own Sophomore sensation, Marisa Summerfield who went off for 21.  The second-year starter continues to lead the Shoregals as they look to find their footing after graduating so many starters a year ago.  Also putting up double digits for the Shoregals was Courtney Borland with 10.

The game got off to a bit of a slow start as the first points didn’t come until 2 and a half minutes in on a Claire Springer foul shot. Kristen Kelley of Amherst hit a three pointer to answer, and we were off to the races from there.

The Shoregals scored the next 7 from Summerfield, Borland and Hicov before Jayla Cruz of the Comets stopped the run with another three ball. From there, a Summerfield three pointer made it 11-6 Shoregals. Avon Lake led 13-11 after one with 8 of the Comets 11 points coming from Kelley.

The second half was back and forth for a bit, but the Comets would eventually take off and build a lead.  Once again it was Kristen Kelley leading the charge with 5 more while Jayla Cruz came off the bench to hit her second big three pointer of the game.  All that mixed in with some very aggressive play out of Peyton Roberts helped the Comets grab a 22-20 lead at the break.

For the third straight quarter, Amherst scored 11 points and extended their lead to 33 – 30 as Kelley had 8 more in the period.  The fourth quarter would become madness however as both teams began to light it up.  The teams went back and forth until Amherst built their largest lead of the game at 43-36 with 2:10 to play thanks to three pointers from Natalie Pleban and Bradyn Silvasy.

Avon Lake wouldn’t go away however,  and cut back into right away to make it 43-38 with 2 minutes left.  The score was still 43-38 with a minute to go when a wild flurry of points on both sides lent to near madness.  A mini Shoregal run made it 45-43 in a blink of an eye with only 31 seconds left.

Then down 2 with 2.1 second to play, Brynn Bondar nailed a three pointer to put the Shoregals ahead 46-45.  It appeared a last second three pointer missed would end the game, but the ref blew the whistle and Bradyn Silvasy would go to the line.  She missed the first two but sunk the third to send the game to overtime.

The Comets would sink 5 foul shots on their way to outscoring the Shoregals  just barely in overtime, but enough to get it done for the 55-53 victory.  What a great game for two exiting young teams.