By Sydney Booth
This time it was the lady Reds turn to prove they had what it takes to beat Sterling.
On Tues. 19, the Reds beat the Sterling Tigers 46 to 43, sealing the win in the final second of the game. This was the moment the Reds had been waiting for since the Tigers beat them 41 to 26 on their home court the first game in the season.
It was a storybook ending, a down to the wire the entire time with the possibility of overtime until a three point buzzer beater from the Reds won the game.
Things got off to a rocky start for the Reds, but only for a short while. The Tigers plowed ahead, 8-1 before the Reds answered with a 17-2 run in the first quarter. At halftime, Sterling was only up by two points with a second quarter score of 21 to 23. Coming into the final quarter of the game, the score was 31-27 in favor of the Reds.
Things started to pick up for the Reds in the beginning of the fourth quarter when Lindy Dixon (16) scored two back-to-back field goals that threw some more momentum into the mix. Of course, the final moments of the game were the most most exciting and most likely to be remembered in the minds of the players and fans.
Fans from both sides were on the edge of their seats in the final minutes of the game. The score was tied: 43-43 in the last minute when Eaton called a timeout with 10.8 seconds left. At the last second, Bailey Schumacher (16) pulled up at the top of the key and nailed a three-point shot to win the game.
Schumacher said, “We were in a good position because we could either make the final shot and win or get the last shot and go into overtime, so either way we were in a good position. In the last minute I was pretty confident that we would get the last shot and win. I was confident in the team.”
The Reds were clearly working as a cohesive unit, using every player to score. There were some standout moments from certain individuals, for example when Kaci Jurgensmeier (16) drained two three-pointers along with Dixon who drained three more three-point shots. Overall, Eaton’s field goal percentage for the game was 38 percent.
A goal for the Reds coming into this game, according to head coach Todd Hernandez, was to play good basic ball. Hernandez said, “I thought fundamentally we were strong. Sterling is a very good team so we’ll make some mistakes, but overall, I am really pleased. We will continue to work on boxing out and limiting second shots.”
The Reds had only eight turnovers overall, which was definitely a factor in helping them achieve their goal.
