The Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes outlasted Columbia Central to take third place in the District 9-AAAA tournament in Coffee County on Monday.
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In the first overtime game of the season, the Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes had to dig deep to outlast the Columbia Central Lady Lions after two extra sessions, 61-56, in the District 9-AAAA tournament consolation game.
Despite holding a halftime lead, the Eaglettes, who finished fourth in the regular season, trailed by five, 35-30, entering the fourth quarter, and trailed by eight, 46-38, with just under three minutes to go. However, the increased pressure in the half court sped up the Lady Lions, and Shelbyville closed on a 9-1 run to send the game into overtime.
“I think it speaks, A LOT, about the toughness we’ve been trying to build in this program since I got here three years ago,” said Eaglettes head coach Kyle Turnham.
“I just kept telling them if they would just play positional defense, defense with the principles that we work on every single day, and just keep these guys from getting to the rim, then go finish plays,” Turnham continued, “Because they got so many points off offensive rebounds [10 points in the first half] we knew something had to be shored up, and we had enough success there to get a win, and showed a lot of toughness, A LOT of toughness.”
That toughness was on full display in the second half, as the Eaglettes were able to repeatedly get to the foul line and convert in the second half.
“We knew when we got them in foul trouble, that we could get the ball to Lily, and since they were always going to switch on our sets, she would be matched up with a guard,” Turnham expressed post-game.
“We finally recognized that and got the ball inside, something we don't always do, and she did a good job of getting fouled, getting baskets, and making enough free throws.”
All-District performer Lily Brown connected on four of those free throws, including a pair of and-ones, in the second half and overtime as part of a monster 18-point night. After a barrage of three-pointers in the first half, fellow All-District performer Paige Blackburn was held to a single field goal in the second half – a fastbreak layup from a steal – but connected on 8/10 free throws in the second half and overtime to finish with a game-high 27 points.
Columbia’s Saviya Morgan finished with a team-high 18 points to match Brown, but had four costly turnovers in the fourth quarter. She was joined in double figures by Anaya Mulholland and Kayla Crawford with 12 and 10 points respectively. Morgan and Crawford would end up fouling out in the overtime periods, and in the end the Eaglettes were able to take advantage.
Shelbyville junior guard Lanaya Young didn’t start well trying to handle Columbia’s tenacious full-court pressure, but finished strong with six points in the overtime periods to get her into double-figures with 11 points.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Lanaya Young, she's the one I took out early, but down the stretch in the second half she stepped up and played really well,” Turnham articulated, “She finished with 11 points, but more importantly, made four CRITICAL free throws down the stretch.”
It was a wild pair of overtime periods inside of a packed Patch Memorial Gymnasium at Coffee County High School, but it didn’t look like we would get there in the first place when Columbia took a commanding 46-38 lead with just under three minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Then, as Coach Turnham conveyed, Lily Brown went on a personal 5-0 mini-run to cut the lead to 46-43 with 1:58 to go. The Lady Lions, facing the Eaglettes relentless trapping half court defense, started to rush shots and turn the ball over, leading to run-outs. Blackburn and Jaz Western would trap Morgan at halfcourt, forcing a turnover and an immediate foul to send Blackburn to the free throw line. After she connected on the pair, it was down to a one-point game.
Columbia would get fouled on the next possession, but after going 1/2 at the line, SCHS came back down the floor and found Brown in the post. She would power up for two, tying the game at 47-47 and punctuating a 9-1 Eaglette run. The Lady Lions wouldn’t even get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, and much to the delight of the traveling Shelbyville faithful, the game was heading to OT.
The first overtime period was filled with extremely tense back-and-forth action. Columbia and SCHS would methodically work the ball around offensively, looking for the best shot possible, and it led to a tie game at 51-51 with exactly one minute to go.
After the Lady Lions converted, Lanaya Young would get fouled on a drive to the basket with 10 seconds left. She calmly stepped to the line, took a deep breath, and knocked down the first. Columbia tried to ice her, taking a timeout in between the first and second shots, but Young brushed it off, and swished in the second free throw looking as cool as a cucumber to tie the game at 53-53.
Columbia would get a shot off this time, but due to more stellar first-shot defense by the Eaglettes, the shot was no good, sending the game into a second overtime period.
As the game continued to wear on, the Lady Lions’ own foul trouble became too much to overcome for the two-seed in the tournament, but Shelbyville was not without their own problems. SCHS had numerous players with four fouls, adding a layer of nervous energy throughout the gymnasium.
After once again trading baskets, SCHS had the ball with 1:45 left, tied at 56. All of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, Jaz Western connects on the biggest shot of the game.
Left alone in the right corner, she rose up with zero hesitation from three, swishing home the only three-pointer made by either team in the extra eight minutes to give the Eaglettes a 59-56 lead with 1:38 left.
“I thought Jaz Western came in and gave us some really big minutes to just sort of stabilize things a bit, and overtime games seem to always take on a life of itself,” continued Turnham, with a sly, knowing, smile spreading across his face as he seemed to replay that shot in his head. “I thought we were, quite frankly, better in the overtimes than we were in the first and second quarters.”
Coming out of the SCHS timeout after the Western triple, Columbia almost immediately turned the ball over. After a pair of traps in the front court, the Lady Lions eventually fouled Yasmine McFarland. McFarland was only in the game because Sammie Brown, who finished scoreless but was instrumental in the Eaglettes’ defensive scheme on the night, had picked up her fifth foul earlier in the overtime period.
McFarland confidently stepped to the line and calmly nailed both free throws, her only two points of the game, to give SCHS their biggest lead since early in the third quarter, 61-56, with 1:07 left.
Coach Turnham took another timeout to set up the defense, and after forcing another stop, Blackburn corralled the ball, got fouled, and split a pair of free throws with 32.2 seconds to go, all but ensuring that the Eaglettes would come out on top of this enthralling consolation game, 63-58.
“You can't simulate that kind of intensity in your practices, and at halftime, when we were up by three, 24-21, they had 10 points off offensive rebounds, but it is what it is and we found a way,” concluded Turnham.
“I’m just extremely proud of these kids.”
The win improves SCHS to 16-12 overall (3-7), and they are scheduled to travel to Page High School on Friday night for the Region 5-AAAA quarterfinal, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 and AM 1400 starting at 6:45 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. tip-off.
Columbia, despite finishing second in the regular season, falls to 23-8 (6-4) and finds themselves in fourth place. They will travel to Nolensville to take on the District 10-AAAA champions at 7:00 p.m.
