Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

CHESAPEAKE — March Madness has started early as usual for high school basketball and there was an upset brewing as the No. 20 seed South Point Lady Pointers nearly sent the No. 13 seed Chesapeake Lady Panthers packing.
The Lady Panthers were able to make a come from behind victory with a clutch 3-pointer that sent the game into overtime from Brooklyn McComas with just over six seconds remaining.
Chesapeake outscored the Lady Pointers 8-1 in the overtime period to advance into the next round of the sectional, 37-30.
“Not to pick out one particular player, but that shot from (Brooklyn) McComas was big. That was a huge shot for her and her confidence as a freshman,” said Chesapeake head coach Chris Ball.
“I could go down the line and talk about everybody, but what it comes down to is it was a team win and we started playing finally in the second half.”
South Point led the way for the majority of the game and even held a 14 point lead at the half, but was unable to sustain their success.
They held Chesapeake without a field goal in the first quarter and didn’t give up their first basket until Maddie Ward scored a layup with 4:28 in the second quarter.
Sarah Mitchell scored 6 points in the first half as she dominated the glass grabbing 10 rebounds in the game. South Point led 20-6 at the break.
“I didn’t go in there and yell or anything. I just talked to the girls and tried to make sense of what happened in the first half,” Ball said of his halftime coaching.
“We were down 14 and I just told them that we don’t have to get them all back at once. Let’s cut it to single digits and I think we did and just finally started playing.”
The halftime regroup did the Lady Panthers some good as they held South Point to just two points in the third quarter and Blake Anderson scored 4 points as they cut the lead to 22-14.
Ward opened the final period with a transition 3-pointer on her way to 7 points in the fourth quarter. Chesapeake scored more points in the fourth (15) than they did in the previous three quarters combined. Ward led the Panthers with a game high 14 points and 7 rebounds, while Anderson scored 11 points and snagged 12 rebounds.
South Point’s point guard, Karmen Bruton, fouled out in the fourth and the Lady Pointers lost their ball handler as they struggled against the surging Panther defense.
“It was a tough loss. We played so well for three and a half quarters, but we only have one senior and one junior and the rest are freshman and sophomores,” said South Point coach Dave Adams.
“We had some trouble scoring in the second half and breaking the press. It’s just inexperience, but if we stick with it and keeping working this is something to build off of.”
Chesapeake will play at No. 4 seed Fairland on Wednesday at 7 pm.
South Point 8 12 2 7 1 = 30
Chesapeake 1 5 8 15 8 = 37
SOUTH POINT (5-10, 5-9): Liz Ermalovich 1-1 0-0 0-0 2, Camillee Hall 1-9 1-1 1-4 6, Sarah Roach 1-3 1-4 2-4 7, Sarah Mitchell 3-8 0-0 0-0 6, Karmen Bruton 0-4 1-2 3-5 6, Emma Saddler 1-1 0-2 1-1 3. Totals: 7-26 3-9 7-14 30. Rebounds: 36 (Hall 10, Mitchell 10). Assists: 5 (Bruton 3). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: Karmen Bruton.
CHESAPEAKE (13-6, 9-5): Kandace Pauley 1-2 0-0 0-0 2, Robin Isaacs 0-0 0-1 1-2 1, Blake Anderson 4-11 0-2 3-6 11, Brooklyn McComas 1-2 1-3 0-0 5, Maddie Ward 3-9 1-4 5-6 14, Emily Duncan 1-4 0-0 2-4 4, Ashlee Conley 0-2 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 10-30 2-14 11-18. Rebounds: 28 (Anderson 12). Assists: 6 (Isaacs 2, Anderson 2). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 18. Fouled out: none.