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Down to the wire: Lady Bobcats escape overtime thriller against Gainesville
BY Chris O’Dell, codell@starlocalnews.com
Gainesville was less than 20 seconds away from stealing a bi-district victory against the Celina girls basketball team on Monday before junior guard Sarah Cantu and sophomore forward KJ Stastny saved the day.
Trailing by one point with 18 seconds left in overtime and Gainesville inbounding from the sideline, Cantu recorded a crucial steal before finding a cutting Stastny to set up the tying and go-ahead free throws in an eventual 51-49 Celina victory.
“It was a pretty crazy ending,” said Jordan Davis, Celina head coach.
“Anything can happen in the playoffs,” Davis said. “That’s what we’ve been trying to tell these girls.”
Despite the big three from Kemp to force overtime, the Lady Bobcats clamped down at the defensive end in the extra frame. Celina held Gainesville to just three points after regulation to keep the team’s season alive for at least one more game.
“The girls did a good job of fighting,” Davis said. “There are still a lot of things we need to make sure we’re better at before [Thursdsay] though.”
Cantu led Celina with a team-high 17 points. The junior was joined by sophomore guard Alex Jones in double figures, with Jones pouring in 14 and Stastny adding eight more.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in the opening half, with Celina taking a 23-22 advantage into the locker room. The Lady Bobcats widened that lead to 37-34 heading into the final stanza before Kemp, who scored a game-high 23 points, made up that deficit on the final shot of regulation.
“One thing about this team is we’re young,” Davis said. “They’ve grown a lot over the season though.”
Gainesville scored all of its points in overtime on a shot from beyond the arc. The field goal was enough to put Celina into a one-point hole with 18 seconds left before Cantu’s game-saving steal.
“We pressured and tried to get the steal,” Davis said. “If we didn’t get one, we were going to foul.”
The steal, followed by Stastny’s conversion at the free-throw line, gave Celina a 51-49 victory to improve the team’s season mark to 26-6. The Lady Bobcats will now prepare for a 7 p.m. area-round contest against Melissa tonight.
“The girls are aware of the situation,” Davis said.
The two teams have not met this season, but the Lady Cardinals enter the matchup as the District 12-3A champs after going 8-0 during district.
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