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BAY VILLAGE, OH – The Bay Rockets owed the North Olmsted Eagles a receipt and handed it to them tonight on Bays’ senior night with a big 42-39 win in front of a packed house. The last time these two teams hooked it up, North Olmsted won 31-30 with a Shelley Gray buzzer beater on December 13. The Rockets didn’t forget and came back from an early fourth quarter deficit to capture the win. The Rockets relied on their seniors to outscore North Olmsted 16 – 12 in the fourth, to get it done!
The Rockets were fueled by the incredible Lucy Bisson, who continues to show everyone just how good she is. Bisson led the Rockets in scoring today with 16 big points with 7 in the fourth while Andy Naughton and Sophia Sharpnack had 7 each. The Rockets scoring was rounded out by Quinn O’Leary with 6, Grace Manoloff with 4 and Maddie Bigler who had 2.
The North Olmsted Eagles were led by the dynamic duo of Mia Donald with 11 and Molly Tabar with 9 points while Taylor Wengstrom had 8. The Eagle scoring was rounded with 5 by Gray and 4 from Tesneem Shahin.
It was a fast paced first three minutes that saw 2 buckets from Bisson answered by North Olmsted with buckets by Tabar and Donald. Down 5-4, Manoloff made a beautiful runner in the lane amongst heavy traffic, it was one of the nicest shots you’re going to see as Manoloff showed no fear. Donald was quick to answer, giving the Eagles the lead right back at 7-6.
The Rockets finished the quarter on a 5-3 run however to take a 11-10 lead after one as Quinn O’leary hit a three at the buzzer, which answered a three from Taylor Wengstrom minutes prior. The second quarter was every bit as close as the Eagles came back to take a slim 21-20 lead into the break. Molly Tabar had 7 more in the quarter, including a buzzer beating three pointer for the Eagles.
It was cold outside, but the scoring inside was even colder in the third quarter. Only 12 total points were scored, six by each team as we went to the fourth quarter with North Olmsted clinging to a 27-26 lead. It was a bruising quarter too, as both teams reached the bonus before we even hit the halfway mark. You don’t see that very often. 4 of the 6 North Olmsted points came from the foul line.
Things began to heat up in the fourth as the scoring began to happen at will. North Olmsted opened up the lead to 32-26 with five straight points by Donald in the first two minutes. Down 6 on senior night, the Rockets needed something to get going. It started when Naughton split a pair of foul shots, and then when Bisson controlled the paint for a bucket, this cut it to 32-29 as the Rockets were starting to heat up with 4:24 to go.
Yet another Bisson bucket brought it to 32-31 before two straight Gray buckets for the Eagles, extended their lead back out to 36 – 31 with 3:28 to go when Rocket head coach Lauren Heldt called timeout to settle her troops down and put together the master plan for a magical comeback on senior night. The Heldt wisdom worked as the Rockets finished the game on a 12-3 run to seal the come from behind victory.
It began with a Bisson foul shot, followed by a beautiful Bisson runner in the lane with a one-handed touch. Now, only down 36-34, Heldt called a timeout the next time the Rockets had the ball and came up with part two of the plan for the comeback. It worked as Sharpnack got fouled on a putback attempt, and then went to where she split the pair. She missed the second one, and then got a rebound to score the go-ahead bucket, in a 7 second, 3-point barrage in the nontraditional way. This burst from Sharpnack earned the Rockets a 37-36 lead as the place came unglued.
From there, the Rockets forced a turnover at halfcourt, which resulted in another Eagle foul. Heldt pumped her first with excitement as Rocket nation began to feel it! Now it was Grace Manoloff’s turn to step up, and she did so by splitting the pair, and extending the lead to 38-36. Moments later, after a fast break, O’Leary was at the line where she split another pair to make it 39-36 Bay with 1:06 left. The Rockets hung on from there for the win after two more O’Leary foul shots.
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