* Story courtesy of www.bannergraphic.com*
remaining gave Cloverdale the lead, it looked like they had done it to
county-rival South Putnam for the third time this year.
As the seconds ticked away, time was running out for South Putnam. In the
chaotic final minute, neither team could do much that was productive. But the
Clovers seemed to be holding on to their lead.
 South Putnam guard Oceaia Boetjer (24) brings the ball up the floor against the defense of Cloverdale’s Chelsie Haltom. [Click to enlarge] |
The Eagles turned the ball over twice.
Cloverdale turned the ball over twice and hit one out of four free throws.
Time had ticked down, but the Eagles had one last shot. Oceaia Boetjer took
the ball near the top of the key, dribbled to the right wing and drained a
three-pointer to put the Eagles on top 40-39 with 4.5 seconds remaining.
When Kristin McCammon’s three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark, the
Eagles had finally beaten the Clovers when it counted — in a sectional game.
Of Boetjer’s shot, Eagle coach Debbie Steffy said, “I don’t think we’ve had
any bigger shot this season than that one. know this is sectional and everybody
would say, ‘Oh yeah, this sectional; that’s a big one,’ but was a big shot.”
Ironically, the plan had been for the Eagles (10-11) to go for the tie.
Sometimes plans change.
“We had talked about the fact that we had to take it to the basket on that
last play and as Oceaia got it, she was coming towards our bench on the dribble
and we’re all yelling at her, ‘Hit it! Hit it!’ and she launches it and it goes
right in,” Steffy said.
Cloverdale coach Bruce Cook had also expected a two-pointer, as the Eagles
had attempted just two three-pointer to that point.
“I was a little surprised that Oceaia shot the three when they only needed
two to tie. But that’s a ball player,” Cook said. “They hit one three for the
night and it was a big shot.”
Before the chaos of the final minute, though, it had been a closely-contested
game, but one the Eagles had controlled most of the way.
Bailey Birt began the game for the Eagles, scoring 10 of their 12
first-quarter points.
“Bailey Birt came out on fire. We needed that. She got us going early,”
Steffy said.
Although the Clovers (15-6) struggled to find their offense early, they kept
pace with the Eagles by hitting three shots from beyond the arc.
The score was tied at 12 after one.
In the second, things slowed down considerably for both squads. However, I
theme emerged for the South Putnam defense: they were not going to let Elizabeth
Cheatham, who had scored more the 20 points in each of the Clovers’ last two
contests, beat them.
“(Cheatham) was the focal point the last time we played them and this time,”
Steffy said. “We can’t let her get the basketball because what happens is if
they’re able to throw the ball in to her, then everybody starts to double down
or sag into her and that opens up their outside game.”
Cook saw the same thing from his own bench.
“I didn’t think we ever got anything in sync offensively and they did a good
job of bottling us up on the inside,” he said. “We hit some threes that kept us
in the game, but usually we have to sprinkle that with some inside play and we
didn’t have that tonight.”
Cheatham finished with just five points, while forward Ashley Koosman was
scoreless until she put in seven fourth-quarter points.
The key to the effort on Cheatham was Eagle senior Liz Mink.
“Mink just did the job on Cheatham all night long,” Steffy said. “She missed
a couple of passes underneath the basket and was so disappointed. I said, ‘Hey,
just do your job playing defense and you’ll get the next one. To her credit, she
came back in and did a good job on Elizabeth.”
After a low-scoring second, the team were once again tied at the half with 19
points each.
The Clovers remained cold in the third, but the Eagles began to build a lead.
Mink had a bucket and Birt and Canary each added a pair in the period.
Cloverdale, on the other hand, could manage just five points in the third and
South led 30-24 after three.
Early in the third, South built the lead further. When another Canary bucket
made the score 35-27, Cook knew his team was in trouble.
That’s when the Clovers’ never-say-die attitude kicked in again. Koosman led
the charge to pull the squad within two at 35-37. Then Haltom’s three with 55
seconds left gave the Clovers their first lead since early in the third quarter.
But down the stretch, Boetjer ultimately made the play that made the
difference.
“We hit some runners on the inside. Chelsie hit the big three on the outside.
We got them where we wanted them,” Cook said. “The inbounds pass went
over-and-back and we had two missed free throws.”
Steffy was simply proud of how her team built its lead and of how it battled
back after losing the lead.
“I’ve just got to hand it to our kids. We came out and played well and got to
a big lead. Cloverdale came back and took the lead and our kids just wanted to
win. They just worked hard and they had to in order to get the victory in that
last minute,” Steffy said.
While Boetjer, a junior, hit the big shot, Steffy gave much of the credit to
her three seniors. Birt got the offense started in the first quarter. Mink
defended Cheatham all night. Canary, normally the team’s leading scorer, fought
through some tough defense in the first half, making plays to help teammates
score and finally getting her own chances in the second half.
“Canary’s always going to come out big,” Steffy said. “She’s a gamer. She
wants to score, but not to the point of being selfish. She just wants to win.
She did a job nice tonight of handling the pressure, handling the basketball and
getting people where they were supposed to be.”
Cook, likewise, was proud of his three seniors and what they’ve done for his
program.
“Chelsie Haltom has meant so much to this program. She’s been at it for four
years and in that time I’ve never seen her come in down. I’ve never seen her not
smile. She’s just a great kid to coach,” Cook said.
“You can’t say enough about Koosman’s hustle. She just comes out and plays
hard. We knew she might not be at full strength, but I think she played the
whole second half,” he added.
But on Wednesday, perhaps the biggest accomplishment of any Clover was senior
Kristen Schroer simply making it into the game. Having missed two months with an
ankle injury, she made her return just in time to contribute ina sectional game.
“Kristen worked real hard to come back. After that ankle injury, she gave us
20 to 22 minutes tonight and did a nice job,” Cook said. “It was tough for her
to do that. She didn’t have her move on the inside, but she rebounded, played
some defense and gave us some time where Koosman and Cheatham to get on the
bench a little bit.”
Cook has watched the Cloverdale program grow in his five years as coach, and
he gave much of the credit to the trio he is graduating this year.
“Those three seniors have meant everything to our program. They set the tone.
You’ll see in the next two or three years that will still hold true and that all
started with their attitudes and their work ethic,” Cook concluded.
Birt led all scorers with 16 points. Boetjer was next with 14. Haltom was the
only Clover in double figures, with 12.
The Eagles will be back at Cascade at 7:30 p.m. Friday for the second
semifinal game against Covenant Christian. The Warriors defeated Monrovia 51-42
in Wednesday’s second game.
At Cascade
IHSAA Girls’ Basketball Sectional
First Round
Cloverdale 12 7 5 15 — 39
South Putnam 12 7 11 10 — 40
Cloverdale (15-6) — Haltom 4-11 2-4 12, Shepherd 2-9 2-4 8, Koosman 2-7 3-6
7, Cheatham 2-4 1-2 5, McCammon 2-16 0-2 5, Franklin 1-2 0-0 2, Schroer 0-3 0-0
0. Totals: 13-52 FG, 8-18 FT, 39 points.
South Putnam (10-11) — Birt 6-13 4-6 16, Boetjer 5-12 3-5 14, Canary 3-6 1-2
7, Mink 1-3 1-2 3, Butts 0-3 0-0 0, Searles 0-0 0-2 0. Totals: 15-37 FG, 9-17
FT, 40 points.
3-pt FG–Cl 5-23 (Haltom 2-4, Shepherd 2-8, McCammon 1-10, Franklin 0-1), SP
1-3 (Boetjer 1-3). Turnovers–Cl 13, SP 16. Total fouls–Cl 16, SP 16. Fouled
out–None.
Next game — South Putnam will face Covenant Christian at 7:30 p.m. Friday in
the first semifinal of the Cascade Sectional. Cloverdale finished its season at
15-6.
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