ST. LEON
The outcome didn’t look promising for the Seymour girls basketball team late in the third period of Saturday’s third place game in the Skyline Chili Haag Ford East Central Holiday Basketball Tournament.
The Owls trailed 45-31 before Ashton Chase hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut Fishers’ lead to 11 going into the fourth period.
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Seymour then came up with its biggest rally of the season by outscoring the Tigers 22-7 for a 56-52 victory.
Owls coach Jason Longmeier was all smiles after the game.
“This was a good win for us, I thought, especially in the matter in what we got it,” Longmeier said. “We played two really tough games coming into this one. We got down 14 late third quarter and we had to keep grinding through that and find a way to pull that out. I think that says an awful lot about our kids.”
He said he felt like the Owls became more aggressive in the fourth quarter.
“I think we got out and ran our transition better,” Longmeier said. “We got a lot of those threes out of our transition. We started spreading the floor a little bit. They were really aggressive in the passing lanes so we started releasing a kid through the lane and that started to open some things up more on the wing from that standpoint.”
The Tigers were on top 47-38, with 6:39 remaining, when Grace Meyer hit a pair of free throws, Grace Schrader followed with a rebound basket and a field goal, and Makenna Fee followed up with another 3-pointer to bring the Owls within a point of a tie at 49-48 with 4:22 on the clock.
After Katie Burton made a free throw and a layup to put the Tigers on top 52-48 with 1:15 remaining, Alyssa Perry made her biggest basket of the season, a 3-pointer from the right wing, for a 52-51 score with 1:10 remaining.
Fee made a layup with 24 seconds remaining to put the Owls on top for the first time since midway through the second period at 53-52. Chase and Meyer added free throws in the closing seconds.
Fee started the game hot with three baskets, including a 3-pointer, in the first period. Perry made a three and Chase had a basket and two free throws in the second period, but the Owls trailed 26-22 at the half. Aidan Hiester and Chase made treys in the third period, but the Tigers held that 45-34 lead going into the final eight minutes.
Seymour had one of its best balanced scoring attacks for the season as Chase and Fee both scored 14 and Meyer added 13. Fee had 10 rebounds.
“We’ve got five kids on our team that at one time or another this season, have scored 15 or more,” Longmeier said. “We’ve got kids that are capable of scoring. We’ve just got to get games where it all comes together at the same time, and I thought in the fourth quarter it did.
“We need Perry to shoot. She’s a good shooter. She’s worked hard at it. That (second) 3-3-pointer was a big one for us.”
The Owls made seven 3-pointers, two each from Perry, Chase and Fee and one from Hiester.
Longmeier said he felt like the Owls would need to shoot 14 threes in order to neutralize Fishers’ quickness to have a chance to win, and that the team played tough defense in the final minutes.
“To hold them to seven points in the fourth quarter and to score what we did that’s (outstanding),” he said. “I’m excited about it. It was good for our kids. We’ve got a month to go before the tournament, and what a month it is going to be.”
Burton was high scorer for Fishers (11-6) with 21 points.
Trojans top Owls
The Owls fell to East Central 39-30 in the semi-finals Saturday morning.
The Owls had their coldest shooting game of the season, going 0-for-15 from the floor in the first half and didn’t make a field goal until Meyer scored at 6:02 of the third period.
The Trojans led 18-6 at the half. Seymour’s scoring in the first half consisted of 6-for-9 free throws.
Baskets by Meyer, Hiester, Megan Ritz and Schrader closed Central’s lead to 20-14, but the Trojans led 26-14 going into the fourth period.
A 3-pointer by Schrader with 3:10 remaining cut Seymour’s deficit to 32-23 but that was as close as the Owls could get.
Meyer topped the Owls in scoring with 14 points, and Schrader added 8.
Seymour finished the game shooting 7-for-35 from the floor.
Dixie Heights, Ky. defeated East Central 35-34 in the championship game.
The Owls (9-7) will travel to Columbus East Thursday for a Hoosier Hills Conference game.