by JOHN HOWLEY / sportingpumpkin.com
AMANDA — Harvest Prep made it tough on host Amanda-Clearcreek to execute Friday night as the No. 8 seed Warriors advanced in the Central District Division III tournament with a 50-39 win over the No. 3 seed Aces.
“This one hurts,” AC coach Tim Leist said. “I love these seniors. They’ve been with me since I took over four years ago and I wanted so bad to get them to a district championship.
“I thought we had a good path, I really did. This one’s going to burn for a while.”
The first couple of minutes gave a taste of the troubles the Aces were going to have as they turned the ball over four times in those first two minutes and ended the night having 20 turnovers in the game.
“That’s been an issue for us – turning the basketball over. We had too many,” Leist said. “We really wanted to make them guard us in the halfcourt and, at times, I thought we did and then just got erratic with the ball.
“It’s always a combination – missed shots, turnovers, foul trouble. I’m sure I’ll go back and watch the film and criticize myself numerous times for choices I made.”
Harvest Prep scored the first eight points of the game and ended the quarter up 10-8.
A three-pointer from Kaylie Wilson early in the second briefly gave the Aces an 11-10 lead but a basket from Jordyn Johnson had the Warriors back on top 20 seconds later.
HP went up 16-11 and AC got it back to a point, but the Warriors scored eight of the final nine points of the half for a 24-16 lead at the break.
The Warriors were up 27-16 early in the third when AC made a little run as Wilson sandwiched a pair of three-pointers around a bucket from Taylor Evans to close the gap to 27-24 with 5:17 to go.
AC was 3-5 shooting in those opening three minutes but missed its next seven shots as HP held a 33-24 lead heading into the final period.
The Aces shook off foul trouble – losing Rachel Weaver to fouls two minutes into the period and Wilson a little over three minutes in – as they were able to close 35-32 with four minutes left but weren’t able to sustain it.
Even with the Warriors losing two starters of their own to fouls in the final four minutes, HP outscored the Aces 15-7 down the stretch to advance to a district semifinal next week against Marion Pleasant.
“We knew coming into this game, we were going to have impose our will and I felt like they imposed theirs. We had a couple stretches there I think in the second quarter and the third quarter where we came back but just couldn’t sustain it,” Leist said. “Obviously foul trouble – losing Rachel and Kaylie there in the fourth quarter – that’s been really haunting us the last five games and, coincidentally, we were one and four down the stretch. That’s tough. Kaylie was starting to knock some shots down for us and Rachel just does a phenomenal job defensively and rebounding.”
Grace Davis and Evans led the Aces with 11 points each with Wilson scoring 10 and Hailey Sowers seven.
Both teams struggled shooting Friday with the Aces going 13-49 from the field and 7-16 from the line while Harvest Prep was 18-49 from the field and 14-25 from the line.
All those missed shots led to the Aces having a 42-34 rebounding edge. Davis led the Aces with nine rebounds.
Monae Gamble led HP with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The Aces finish the year with a 16-8 record and placed fourth in the Mid-State League.
“We were rolling there when we knocked off Carroll there before Christmas and then Grace got hurt, which really stinks for her just because of the fact that she had come back from the ACL. That’s always going to be that big ‘what if,’ but injuries happen,” Leist said. “I told the seniors that you guys took us on a heck of a ride this year. We had some great wins beating Johnstown, beating Buckeye Valley, beating Carroll – we had some very memorable moments. Sixteen wins – it’s the first time in five years we’ve had that many.
“I’m very proud of these girls and wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
Harvest Prep 50, Amanda-Clearcreek 39
Harvest Prep — MoNae Gamble 2-8-12, Maliyah Lofton 5-1-11, Carmyn Woods 3-0-6, Israelle Smith 1-0-2, Ja’niya Lawson 1-0-2, Jordyn Jonson 3-2-8, Adjoa Acheampong 3-1-7, Chrisette Anthony 0-2-2. Total — 18-47 14-27 50.
Amanda-Clearcreek — Grace Davis 4-2-11, Hailey Sowers 3-0-7, Taylor Evans 3-4-11, Kaylie Wilson 3-1-10. Three-point goals — Davis, Sowers, Evans, Wilson (3). Total — 13-49 7-16 39.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Harvest Prep 10 14 9 17 50
Amanda-Clearcreek 8 8 8 15 39
