Evarts hits the game-winner, Senecas let one slip away

Calvert experienced one of the best quarters of its whole season, but then also experienced the worst quarter of the whole season all in the second half Thursday night.After a spectacular third quarter, outscoring Gibsonburg 17-6 as the Senecas played smothering defense and made great decisions with the basketball for easy looks on offense, the game was there for the taking.Leading by 12 with five minutes left, everything changed in an instant.Gibsonburg's Elly Evarts swiped a steal from Alyssa Rishty and then went up for a contested layup. Rishty was called for a foul, but then also a technical foul. As a result, Evarts got four free throws, but even worse than that for Calvert, Rishty fouled out of the game.Up to that point, Rishty had a team-high 22 points, but also was running the show offensively, making tough passes in traffic setting her teammates up for good looks.Without one of the best players in school history on the floor, the Senecas had to respond and close it out.It came up just short.Evarts and the Golden Bears capitalized with Rishty being out, ending the game with a 16-4 run as she drained the game-winning floater with 9.5 seconds left.Gibsonburg squeaked out a 53-51 league win."In 30 years of coaching it's the most disappointing game I've ever had. That's a game we should've won … blame it all on me, but I told our girls to stop fouling and they just kept fouling and Alyssa got the technical," Senecas coach Aaron Sheets said. "If they want to win next year, they have to win without her and today they showed they can't without her."We had a 12-point lead, you should win that game. No one else can handle the ball right now. When she doesn't handle the ball, we fall apart. We tried to spread them out and get good shots on offense and then on the other end it was stupid foul after stupid foul. Until we become more competitive and figure out that every possession matters, we're never going to beat a team like them."Calvert's two losses this season have been to Gibsonburg, now by a combined five points. Evarts led the charge for the Golden Bears (9-4, 9-1 SBC River) with a game-high 35 points as she responded quite well after being held scoreless after the opening period."That certainly gave us a glimmer of hope because we were struggling defensively," Gibsonburg coach Bo Evarts said about Rishty fouling out in the fourth. "We were being aggressive, but they were still getting good looks because Alyssa can see the floor so well, so it's tough to press and trap with her in there. But after that happened, we got the confidence we could do it."You could tell they struggle a bit handling the ball without Alyssa out there and the moment got pretty big for them there. I told the girls before the game if we would win this game we'd pretty much be able to control our own destiny in the league, so just the fact that we fought through it. Elly had zero points in the first quarter and then found a way in the end there. We had girls fighting for rebounds and stuff, which hasn't happened much this year and the girls know every possession matters in these kinds of games."Gibsonburg led 9-7 in the first quarter before Calvert ended the period on a 10-3 spurt as Rishty and Kaleigh Concepcion each scored four points and Carleigh Meier dropped in a layup.Evarts then got going as she scored 14 second-quarter points, which were all in a row for the Golden Bears. However, Calvert ended the half strong as Rylan Perry split a pair of free throws and Concepcion swished a putback layup right before the buzzer, giving the Senecas a 28-27 edge.Calvert really started to make things happen in the third, turning Gibsonburg over left and right and converting off of those turnovers to build a 45-33 lead entering the fourth.After the collapse, the Senecas (11-2, 8-2) will have to rebound. They have to win-out in the league and hope for a Gibsonburg loss, which is possible as Danbury just beat the Golden Bears last week."Only thing I can do as a coach is learn from it. There are some things I could've done differently … we tried to spread them out and then attack, but without Alyssa we can't attack," Sheets said. "It's like losing your starting quarterback, we lost our star quarterback and we just fell apart. When she doesn't have the ball in her hands we're not a scary team and that's what I have to figure out right now."Gotta give it to Gibsonburg … our whole goal this year was to win the league and that game right there might've just blown the whole thing, so that's what I'm frustrated about. It could've been of the best games of our lives, but it turned out to be one of the worst."Concepcion popped in 11 points, while Meier finished with eight and Rombach had seven. Gibsonburg 53, Calvert 51Gibsonburg (9-4, 9-1 SBC River): Alayna Molter 2-0-4; Emma Jividen 1-0-2; Ansley Fleming 3-0-8; Taylor Rapp 0-0-0; Elly Evarts 11-9-35; Mackenzie Muntz 0-0-0; Ava Dawson 0-1-1; Emily Henderson 1-1-3. Totals: 18-11-53.Calvert (11-2, 8-2): Kaleigh Concepcion 5-1-11; Alyssa Rishty 8-6-22; Megan Rombach 2-3-7; Carleigh Meier 4-0-8; Kate Coleman 1-0-2; Rylan Perry 0-1-1; Mya Steyer 0-0-0. Totals: 20-11-51.Gibsonburg&emsp;&emsp;12&emsp;&emsp;15&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;20&emsp;&emsp;– 53Calvert&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;11&emsp;&emsp;17&emsp;&emsp;6&emsp;&emsp;– 513-point goals: Gibsonburg 6 (Evarts 4, Fleming 2); Calvert 0Foul shots: Gibsonburg 11-15; Calvert 11-16Turnovers: Gibsonburg 25; Calvert 26