By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Miranda Quennoz had the court all to herself.
The Skyline freshman had been fouled on a three-point attempt at the buzzer and now stood at the free throw line with three chances to win the game.
Her first shot was a hard miss off the back of the rim.
She swished the second, handing eighth seed Skyline a 39-38 win against Bolivar on Wednesday in a white division first-round game at the Pink & White Lady Classic at the O’Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield.
“I couldn’t think of a tougher spot for a freshman kid to be in than to have to go to line there,” said Skyline coach Kevin Cheek. “The best thing about it is you’ve got three chances. After she missed that first one those next two get pretty tough but her second one didn’t hit anything but the bottom of the net.”
Quennoz’s heroics capped a back-and-forth game that saw eight lead changes in the second half. Neither team led by more than three points after halftime.
Bolivar led throughout the first half – though never by more than four. Liberators senior Hannah Newcomb scored 10 points in the first quarter and sophomore Trinity Williamson chipped in eight, but Quennoz added nine of her own in the first quarter to keep it close.
Skyline tied the game at 17 early in the second quarter on a basket by freshman Alyee Gunter. Bolivar senior Rheagan Hancock countered with a three pointer.
The Liberators led 24-23 in the final minutes of the half, but Skyline sophomore Emma Crawford scored at the buzzer to give the Tigers their first lead of the night, 25-24 at the half.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE GAME
Skyline’s Gunter made a three pointer at the 6:38 mark of the third to give the Tigers a 28-25 lead, their largest of the game. Bolivar answered with baskets by sophomore Lexi Berry and Williamson to take a 29-28 lead.
The teams continued trading leads into the fourth quarter, settling for brief ties at 34, 36 and 38.
Leading 38-36, Skyline turned the ball over and then on its next possession came away empty with a 1-and-1 opportunity. That allowed Bolivar’s Berry to make two free throws with 37 seconds left in the game to tie it at 38.
That set the stage for Quennoz’s game-winner.
“We’re a work in progress,” Cheek said. “We have two seniors and a junior and then we have a lot of young kids on the floor. Part of what me and coach (Jeremy) Owen are trying to do right now is get everybody moving to the right spots. Bolivar enjoys playing that pace. They guard well, they sink and sag and get where they’re supposed to. Offensively they’re going to run their stuff until they score so we knew going in it was going to be a little slower-paced. We haven’t played very many of those this year and I was excited we were able to adjust to that pace. We made a turnover or two at the two-minute mark and when it happened I was worried about if it was going to cause us to break and fold but they didn’t, they got a stop on that end and made a layup or two.”
Bolivar coach Ryan Madison said his goal is to keep opposing teams under 40 points.
“We feel like we have a chance to win,” he said. “We did right there. Tough one at the end. I couldn’t see it very well at all to see if we got her or not but we had to get a hand up on the shooter anyway, a great shooter. Skyline may be young but they’re still a really good team.”
Madison described the Liberators’ defense as “really bad” in the first half but said it improved in the second.
“At the very beginning I don’t think we played very well,” he said. “We had a long break, of course they did too. I just don’t think we were ready to go at the beginning. I told the kids after the game it was my fault. We’ve got to be ready to play. Early on we weren’t.”
Quennoz led Skyline with 14 points and freshman Lilly Whitten added eight.
Bolivar was led by 16 points apiece from Williamson and Newcomb.
Skyline, 7-2, advances to the quarterfinals on Thursday. The Tigers will play top seed Fort Smith Northside at 7:30 p.m at O’Reilly Family Event Center. Northside defeated Catholic 68-35 on Wednesday.
Bolivar, 4-3, will play Catholic at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Weiser Gym.
