Missed timeout saves Jefferson in Round 1
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
Jefferson sophomore guard Kelsi McQuinn gets to the basket for an uncontested layup to end the first quarter of the Lady Eagles’ 29-28 win over West Platte in the first round of the North Platte Invite Tuesday night.
Tyler Pedersen called timeout, but he’s sure glad the referees didn’t grant it.
Trailing by one, 28-27, with 14 seconds left, Jefferson sophomore guard Sarah Chor took a three-pointer from left of the key. It hit short off the rim and senior guard Brooklyn Stoll put it back up and in with two seconds left.
“I saw there was an open spot and no one was going to get it, so I went and grabbed the rebound and put it back in,” Stoll said.
Pedersen called timeout after Stoll’s rebound, but the referees didn’t hear it and counted the basket, allowing the Lady Eagles to survive Monday night’s opening round of the 17th annual North Platte Invitational against seventh-seeded West Platte, 29-28.
“That’s always a tough situation there — the clock’s winding down, it’s just a last-second decision,” Pedersen said. “I didn’t know that she was going to have a clean look. So I called timeout to draw something up. Fortunately, they didn’t hear me and she had a really good look and put it back.”
Despite an obvious lid on the basket in the first half and the absence of junior center Jessie Henry, the Lady Eagles’ leading scorer and rebounder who was out with the flu, the Eagles passed the first test of the tournament — one they finished second in a season ago.
“We looked at it as if we can come out and pull it out without her, it’s going to be good for us,” Pedersen said. “It gives us an opportunity to play without our leading scorer, our leading rebounder. The girls were going to have to step up. I felt the girls did.”
Even with the junior center’s absence, the Lady Eagles still had a considerable size advantage over the Lady Jays, but the advantage was squandered by cold shooting both near the rim and at the free throw line. Jefferson shot 0-for-9 from the charity stripe in the first half.
A layup from sophomore forward Kayla Schmitz and a three-pointer from the corner by Stoll gave the Eagles an early 5-0 advantage.
West Platte answered with a three-pointer of its own against the Eagles’ 2-3 zone, but sophomore guard Kelsi McQuinn pushed the advantage right back to five with a triple of her own.
Again, West Platte hit another three, but the Lady Eagles scored the final four points of the first quarter to take a 12-6 advantage into the second.
Neither team’s offense did much in the second quarter, as a short jumper from freshman forward Josie Deen accounted for all of the Eagles’ offense in the period.
“The girls made some really goo plays, we just didn’t shoot real well,” Pedersen said. “We had a lot of looks in the first half. That could have been a 10 or 12 point game pretty easy if we’d have finished just a few more of those.”
West Platte didn’t fare any better, scoring four points — the last two on a 18-foot buzzer beater by sophomore guard Nealie Niemeier — to trim the Eagles’ lead to 14-10 by halftime.
“Fortunately we played good enough defense to be able to go into halftime with a lead,” Pedersen said. “That was the message at halftime: ‘Hey, we got a lot of really good looks. We’re better free throw shooters than that and we’re going to come out in the second half and be in decent shape because if you give me that defensive effort this half, we’re going to put ourselves in position to be able to win.’”
The Bluejays cut the Jefferson lead to 16-15 before a runner from Deen and a steal and layup from Chor pushed the Eagles back ahead 20-15. Another West Platte buzzer-beater, this one a layup from Mattie Vandel trimmed the Jefferson lead to 20-17 heading into the fourth.
With 6:25 to play, Schmitz accounted for the Lady Eagles’ first free throws of the day to keep them up three, 22-19.
A jumper from the short corner by Niemeier with 4:52 to play gave West Platte its first lead and a triple from Karen Knox pushed that lead to 26-22. A layup by Taylor Binkley gave the Jays their biggest lead of the day, 28-22, but the Eagles’ free throw woes of the first have vanished as they hit 5-of-6 freebies from the 1:19 mark to the 52.4 mark to cut the lead to 28-27.
“There wasn’t anything different,” Pedersen said. “It was their concentration level. They just stepped up. They were clutch, clutch free throws. You don’t just automatically become better free throw shooters. They realized the situation and made some plays.”
West Platte missed the front end of two 1-and-1s, keeping the Eagles alive for Pedersen’s timeout that wasn’t.
“We found a way in the end,” Pedersen said. “It wasn’t pretty but the girls got it done.”
Stoll led Jefferson with nine points while McQuinn added seven and Deen finished with six while starting in place of Henry.
The second-seeded Eagles (16-1), who currently sport a 10-game winning streak, advance to face No. 3 seed Plattsburg at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in Dearborn.
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
Jefferson freshman forward Mikayla Mattson heads to the rim against West Platte’s Gretchen Hiatt during the Lady Eagles’ 29-28 win in the first round of the North Platte Invitational Tuesday night in Dearborn.
JASON LAWRENCE/DAILY FORUM
Jefferson freshman forward Josie Deen, who started in place of ill junior center Jessie Henry Tuesday night, prepares to shoot in heavy traffic. The Lady Eagles pulled out a 29-28 win over West Platte in the opening round of the North Platte Invitational.
