by NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio– With North Olmsted trailing 29-30 with two seconds left, head coach Nolan Turpin had to try and draw up a game-sealing play and that’s when sophomore guard Shelley Gray found an open lane underneath the basket to put in a layup as time expired, sealing the come-from-behind win for the Eagles.
“We had a feeling they were going to double team Mia (Donald),” Turpin said regarding the game-sealing out-of-bounds play. “Shelley, man, she hit a buzzer-beater last week to get us to overtime. She’s just so poised for a sophomore first-year varsity player.”
BALLGAME: Shelley Gray wins it for @NOHS_GirlsBball at the buzzer! @SportsKee1 pic.twitter.com/kxt3aQVQj3
— Michael Trivisonno (@MichaelTriv_) December 14, 2023
The Bay Rockets made it very difficult for the Eagles to get anything going offensively, especially inside the paint throughout the first half.
It all started in the first quarter as the Eagles failed to score in the game’s first four minutes. Junior point guard Quinn O’Leary added two free throws to push her team’s lead to 7-2 with the first quarter winding down. Their lead got as high as eight points throughout the first half.
The second half is when the Eagles started to get it going, starting with a bench spark from Katie Strong. She made back-to-back mid-range shots closing out the third quarter, giving her team their first lead of the game. The Eagles were able to outscore the Rockets 13-5 in the third quarter to head into the fourth with a two-point lead.
The emphasis for Turpin and his team in the second half was to force stops defensively and capitalize on the other end, one play at a time.
“We dug ourselves in a hole, they played a really good first half, especially defensively limiting us to some tough shots as we weren’t hitting anything,” Turpin explained. “The second half was just to ramp up the pressure to try to create some things defensively to offense and that is what got us going.”
Both teams were able to trade baskets throughout the fourth quarter, including three lead changes in the final minute alone. Rose Lane helped give her team a 29-27 lead with 58 seconds left in the game and from there, Lucy Bisson got an and-one on the other end for the Rockets, giving her team a one-point lead with eight seconds left.
Bisson played a pivotal part in the success of the Rockets Wednesday night as she ended the night with a game-high 17 points.
But, with under 10 seconds left and a couple of timeouts remaining, that gave Turpin and his girls a few more opportunities to get different looks at a potential game-winning shot, and that’s when the sophomore guard stepped up in the end.
“We’re just a resilient team, we just non-stop fight and that’s what we focus on doing,” Turpin said.
“It feels great, the intensity is so high and it just feels amazing,” Gray said after the game with a smile on her face.
The Eagles had eight different players score during the win, with Lynnae Farkas pacing the team with six points off the bench. Molly Tabar had five points and Gray, Strong, Tesneem Shahin and Rose Lane each had four points to round out the scoring.
