Columbian clips Clyde in SBC Lake clash

With the score tied at halftime and battling to keep the lead at times, Columbian needed to keep its composure if it was going to win.After Marissa Allen came back in late in the fourth quarter, she had one task: get Columbian back into the game. The senior saw an opportunity to score, tying it up at 35-all and making it difficult for Clyde to regain its footing.Columbian stopped Clyde in its tracks and held on 41-37 in a Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division game on Friday.The amount of momentum shifts in the game was nothing uncharacteristic for any team playing in the SBC."When it comes to the SBC and you are playing a tough team, you are going to expect a battle," TC coach Morgan Harrigan said. "We knew we had to win 50/50 balls on little things and we were getting chippy with each other, but at the end of the day, it's five girls on each squad playing really hard basketball and getting after it."For the Tornadoes (9-4, 2-3), being stalled while Clyde (9-4, 1-3) was trying to get free throws was the most frustrating part of the night, but TC then picked up on the press and took the momentum shift into their favor."It felt great to have a big-time freshman come in and do what she needed to do," said Allen about Caroline Newlove. "She made a great shot for us. We got the rebound, we pushed it and we kept our composure."The Tornadoes had all but 51.4 seconds for decisions. Newlove, one of three freshmen on the squad, was fouled as she went up to score. The basket counted and she was sent to the charity stripe.Sinking the bonus, it pulled the Tornadoes ahead of the Fliers 37-35."You have to give credit to Caroline for coming in and making an immediate impact," Harrigan said. "She made some layups down the stretch that were huge and her role was to faceguard (Taitum) Jeffrey and she did just that."Clyde responded in the form of a bucket from Ember Andres with 31 seconds left, tying it up again 37-all.One turnover for the Fliers out of their 20 allowed for Mia Zeis to hit a basket with 17.7 seconds remaining and made it 39-37."We came out of the timeout and we needed to preserve," Allen said. "We fed off of the crowd, the band, the student section. We felt all odds were stacked against us, and in the last timeout, coach told us to play good defense and play our game and that's what we did."With 7.7 seconds left, Lexi Beaston was sent to the free throw line.Beaston made both of her free throws, and that was the end for Fliers this round. TC has defeated Clyde three times under Harrigan at the helm.From the beginning of the game, TC was having to break ties in order to get leads in the game. In total, there were five ties. Four of those were broken by the Tornadoes.To open the game, Madi Shriver canned her first triple out of the night. She made three out of five all game.But Clyde then took the lead temporarily until Zeis capitalized on an opportunity to steal the ball from Jeffrey and scored on a layup, tying it 6-all.Zeis did it once again, with 1:17 left on a jump shot, and Shriver slid a 3-point shot in from the left side."We knew it was going to be a dog fight, especially since the half was tied at 17-17," Allen said. "Clyde is a very well-rounded team and very similar to us. We now have the record, but we were told to get boards and get on the ground and get every single thing and that's what we did."The Fliers had eight turnovers in the first quarter."We have been really working on pushing the ball in transition," Harrigan said. "We also worked on making better decisions once we had it, and obviously the girls listened today."In the second quarter, Kelsey Ray's triple allowed the Fliers to pull one point ahead at the start, 12-11, but Zeis split her free throws, tying it up 12-12.Clyde didn't get another score until Jeffrey made a basket at the 2:48, keeping the lead close 16-14.Maddy Richie scored on a free throw, getting TC to 17 first. Clyde caught up when Reese Daniel nailed a three-point shot with 25 seconds left on the clock.The leading scorer of the night was Jeffrey with 15 points with 14 rebounds. Ray was in double digits on rebounds with 11. The top scorer for the Tornadoes was Shriver with 11 points, followed by Zeis with 10."We just have to keep growing so we can play the best basketball we can at the end of the season," Harrigan said. "I think we are starting to see the girls make big plays and they are starting to gel as a team. We are still working through some adversity and picking each other up in hard times, but stay the course knowing that we have a hard month of basketball left." Columbian 41, Clyde 37Clyde (9-5, 1-3): Taitum Jeffrey 6-3-15, Kelsey Ray 2-1-6, Reese Daniel 2-2-7, Ariah Farrar 0-1-1, Ember Andres 3-1-8 TOTALS: 13-8-37Columbian (9-4, 2-3): Madi Shriver 4-0-11, Mia Zeis 3-4-10, Marissa Allen 3-0-7, Caroline Newlove 2-0-4, Lexi Beaston 1-2-4, Maddy Richie 2-1-5 TOTALS: 15-7-41Clyde 9-8-8-12–37TC 11-6-9-15–41Three-point goals: Clyde 3 (Ray, Daniel, Andres); TC 4 (Shriver 3, Allen)Free Throws: Clyde 8-14; TC 7-15Turnovers: Clyde 20; TC 11