Fairview gets revenge on Saco, takes Eastern C in OT

The highly-anticipated game between the Fairview Lady Warriors and the  Saco/Whitewater Lady Panthers has finally arrived. The stands are filling with the “faithful” from both villages, war paint has been applied, instructions have been instructed and dances have been danced. “Are you ready, are you ready, are you ready to fight?” and all that.

You might recall that just a short year ago, these two teams, less the girls from Whitewater, who are now united with Saco, were girding their loins for a challenge game, the Hinsdale Lady Raiders having already won the numero one-o spot for the trip to State.

That particular game was an all-time girls' high school basketball classic with the Saco Lady Panthers emerging victorious in the final seconds of the contest, thus crushing the hopes of the mighty Fairview Lady Warriors of getting to “State” for yet another year.

The line-ups introduced, the umperees ready and the particulars on the court - it was tip-off time.

In what could be the fastest foul committed in a divisional tourney game, Angie Crowder of the Lady Panthers whacked a Fairview player at the 7:58 second mark of the first eight-minute period. Yowee!

Fairview inbounded and shot, but missed, Saco/Whitewater grabbed the rebound and headed down court where a nifty pass from Justinn Marshall to Leah Olson, waiting under the rim, resulted in two points for the Lady Panthers.

Katie Hardy took a pass from Jordan Gifford and put it up and in for two points. Tie game. Leah grabbed an offensive rebound and hammered in back through the hoop for yet another score, and after a Lady Warrior turnover, Justinn Marshall hit a couple free throws for Saco. Tied up at 4 each.

Hardy drove the base line for a deuce and Macey Cox hit a two-fer for the Lady Panthers, tying it yet again at 6-6. Whew!

Marshall put the Lady Panthers up with a looong two, that was followed by Lady Warrior Gifford with a deuce of her own. Fairview's Stephanie Murphy, not to be outdone, nailed a two, followed closely by a drive and a bucket from Saco's Jessie Davis, newly inserted into the game by coach Amber Erickson.

Morgan Klose hit two free throws for the Lady Warriors, tying the game at a dozen each, and Saco's Cox (actually from Whitewater) jammed home a three at the buzzer, giving the Lady Panthers a slim 3-point advantage after eight grueling minutes of play.

Saco/Whitewater started off strong with a strong pass from Brianne DePuydt to Olson, who put it up strongly through a couple or more Fairview defenders. Then Morgan stole an errant Saco pass and took it coast-to-coast for the layup. Saco's Davis hit a dandy 12-foot jumper from the base line, Fairview's Murphy put one of her patented spin moves around a hapless Saco defender and drove for the easy layup.

Hardy hit a 15 footer from about 12 feet and at the three-minute mark, Morgan stole another Saco pass, going shore-to-shore for the uncontested layup, giving the Fairview Lady Warriors their first lead of the game at 20-19.

Morgan scooped up yet another Saco error, and quick like a bunny, tore off down court for the layup. Fairview went on a 6-0 run to put an end to the first half of play with the Lady Warriors ahead of the Lady Panthers 28-21.

A pass from Klose to Hardy underneath started the scoring in the second half. It was a 9-point lead for Fairview when Saco's Macey Cox said “enough is enough,” and nailed a sweet 3-pointer from deep center field. Then Leah Olson drove up and over Katie Hardy's outstretched arms for another Saco score. Angie Crowder hit for a deuce and another two, Marshall drove the lane and put up a left-hander for the hoop and the harm. She missed her freebie.

Hardy grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up and in for Fairview, and at the other end, Justinn hit Jessie with a great pass in the paint. Jessie slammed it home for the deuce.

The last possession for Fairview went something like this. They inbounded, drove down court, and Stephanie Murphy fired up a shot that didn't fall. She grabbed her own rebound and fired again. No go. She again rebounded, shot, missed, and freshman Maysn Klose grabbed the offensive rebound and put it up but not in. There was a mad scrum for the loose ball and Jordan Gifford came up with it and passed to Hardy, who was open on the base line and hit an 8-footer for the bucket.

Saco had an opportunity to score at the buzzer, but the shot went awry and the score, after 24 minutes of hard-fought basketball, was Fairview 37, Saco/Whitewater 33. Hang on to your bonnets folks, for the final eight minutes.

The fourth period was a carbon copy of the third, with good passes, bad passes, great drives, points in the paint, points from three-point range, and just simply the best girls' basketball known to man. We'll fast forward to the closing seconds of the game.

Leah Olson drove around and over Katie Hardy at about the :20 tick mark, making it a 1-pernt game favoring the Lady Warriors.

At the :9.3 second mark, Annie DePuydt fouled Morgan Klose, who nailed both ends of a one-and-one with clutch free throw shooting.

Saco/Whitewater inbound to DePuydt, who took it across the time line where coach Erickson called a timeout.

With just 4.2 ticking thingies left in the scoreboard clock, Saco inbounded to Justinn Marshall, who took a couple drizzles toward center court and let fly a 3 from atop the key, and with the score set at Fairview 49, and Saco 46.

Justinn Marshall has a very high arcing shot, normally, but this one, friends, I swear it had ice on it when it came down from the stratosphere. Down, down, down it came, falling like a meteorite trailing flames. Down, down and ... NBN (for you ill-informed NBN is Nothing but Net). Tie ball game and the buzzer sounded, but who could hear it over the groans of Fairview and the cheers of Saco/Whitewater.

In the OT period, Fairview had first opportunity to score but didn't. Saco/Whitewater rebounded and drove to their end where Marshall got fouled and missed the first freebie but hit the second.

On the ensuing Fairview possession, Morgan Klose got hammered and was awarded a couple free throws. She hit 1-of-2, tying the game at 50 each.
Jordan Gifford caused Saco to lose the ball inbounding and in the scramble pushed it out to Morgan Klose who, still smarting from missing a free throw, nailed a 3-pointer.

Olson hit a deuce for Saco, but things went all bad for the Lady Panthers from that point on, as the Lady Warriors went on an 8-4 run. Justinn Marshall hit another three at the buzzer, but too little too late. The Lady Warriors of Fairview finally earned a trip to State. Final score, Fairview 61, Saco/Whitewater 56.

High-point producer for the Lady Panthers was Justinn Marshall with 19 on 6-for-21 FG, 3-for-6 3-points, and 4-for-7 FT. This was followed closely by Leah Olson who hit 8/12 for 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Macey Cox hit for 11 points, Jessie Davis added 6, Angie Crowder 3 and Brianne DePuydt scored 1 point but snagged nine crucial rebounds.

For the Fairview Lady Warriors, it was Morgan Klose shooting 6-for-15 from the field, 1-for-1 3-pointers, and 12-for-15 from the charity stripe for a very nice 25 points and seven rebounds. Katie Hardy had 17 pernts and grabbed 10 rebounds while Stephanie Murphy contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Gifford added 3 points and Tiffany Kittleson scored on a free throw.

Fairview goes on to State as number-one seed from Eastern C (C is for Classy) while Saco/Whitewater has to get through a challenge by the Culbertson Cowgirls on Monday.

That's it for now folks. Thanks for listening.