To say that Lone Tree struggled offensively during the first three quarters of Friday’s game would be an understatement.
It took over nine minutes for the Lady Lions to put the first points on the scoreboard, and Lone Tree still trailed rival Highland 24-12 entering the final quarter.
Then the shots started to fall.
Finley Jacque and Avery Lisk scored all 22 of their points in the second half and overtime as the Lady Lions came back for a 38-29 double-overtime win.
In the first half, all seven of Lone Tree’s points came from freshman forward Alyson Ford, but coach Ryan Shelman told his guards to keep taking open shots.
“We might not hit them, but you’ve got to keep shooting, because if they're open, you’ve got to knock them down,” he said. “Eventually, we hit enough shots.”
The Lions still had not reached double digits late in the third quarter, trailing 22-9 when Jacque scored her first points of the game with a 3-pointer.
“Going into the fourth quarter… I told our girls, ‘keep shooting, they're going to fall this quarter. So we went out there and the girls just found a way to get it done tonight.”
Jacque hit two more from outside in the fourth quarter and Lisk banked in a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to tie the game.
Lone Tree took its first lead of the day when Vivian Zaruba hit a pair of free throws with 2:17 left in the second overtime. Lisk, who also had a steal and score during the fourth quarter run, stole the ball again in overtime and finished to put the Lady Lions ahead by two scores.
“Our offense was created by our defense today,” Shelman said. “We probably scored most of our points today in transition, or off of a turnover or rebound. I thought we tightened up defensively. And that was the difference between the first half and the second half.”
The Lady Lions allowed just five points in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Jacque, a freshman guard, scored just 10 total points on 2-of-17 shooting through the first three games of the season. But her confidence was unshaken.
Jacque has put up 38 points during Lone Tree’s three-game winning streak, including the game-winning layup in a 32-31 victory at Columbus on Tuesday.
The Wildcats took a one-point lead with 10 seconds left, prompting Shelman to call a timeout to draw up a play.
Jacque, the inbounder, threw the ball to Riley Krueger, who was also out of bounds on the baseline. Krueger inbounded the ball to a cutting Jacque, who pushed the ball up the court.
“We talked about it in the huddle, when we're in a late game-scenario, you go right at the basket," Shelman said. "Maybe you'll get the call, maybe you won't, but at least you’ll know you were aggressive to the hoop. It was just good execution by all of us down the stretch, and a good job by Finley to take the ball to the basket and make the shot in that situation.”
Jacque scored 15 of the Lady Lions’ 32 points on Tuesday and finished with 12 on Friday after a scoreless first half.
Ford scored nine in the win over the Huskies. Lisk had 10 and Zaruba finished with five.
Sarah Burton scored nine points for Highland before fouling out, including a key basket that extended the lead to 27-22 with 1:10 left. Stella Slaymaker had the Huskies only points in overtime.
The Huskies took a brief 29-27 lead in overtime, despite finishing with as many turnovers as shot attempts while shooting 26 percent from the floor.
“I have to hand it to Lone Tree, they fought the entire game and never gave up,” Highland coach Jody Fink said. “When you give up 21 offensive rebounds it is going to be hard to recover.
“It was a very physical game and we didn’t shoot well at all.”
Katie Herrig answered back-to-back Lone Tree baskets with a 3-pointer in the second quarter. It started a 14-3 run that put the Huskies on top by 13. Herrig and Burton each finished with 11 rebounds. Jessica Kraus scored seven points during the Highland run and led all scorers in the game with 13 points.
“We need to remember the hurt and use it as motivation, but forget the game and move onto our next one up on Tuesday,” Fink said. “We have great kids that bust their butts and I know they will respond this coming week positively.”
