Louisville Leopards at Canton Central Catholic Crusaders Girls Basketball 2013 Video Highlights

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Louisville 49, Central Catholic 48

Clara Lemmon delivered the block of the year at the end of the third quarter and provided the game-clinching steal in the final seconds during the Lady Leopards nail-biting 49-48 win over the host Canton Central Catholic Crusaders Wednesday.  Emily Nees led Louisville with 11 points and Hannah Lemmon broke double-digits with 10.

The first half featured a flurry of points as the two teams combined for 25 field goals and 59 points.  Central’s Katie Nixdorff scored 7 of her team-high 14 points in the first quarter alone.  Nees scored 9 of her 11 points in the first half and Clara Lemmon scored all 7 of her points in the first two quarters to lead Louisville to a 34-25 halftime advantage.

The Crusaders rallied to tie the game at 38-38 with a half a minute left in the third quarter when Hannah Miller hit 1 of her 4 three-pointers on the evening.

However, Louisville maintained their advantage heading into the fourth after Hollyann Mullett nailed a jumper and Clara Lemmon made the swat of the year on a Crusader three-point attempt as the buzzer sounded.  Mullett as well as Mackenzie Rankin would finish with 8 points each for the Lady Leopards.

In the fourth quarter, a bucket by Hannah Lemmon put Louisville ahead 42-38.  But the Crusaders roared back as Aaliyah Dotson rolled to the rack and Miller hit another three-pointer to give Central their first lead since midway through the first quarter at 43-42.

Just as they had all night long, the Lady Leopards answered back with a 7-1 run to take a commanding 49-44 advantage with 3:30 left in the contest.  First, Hannah Lemmon drilled her second Beatty's Winter Hoodiesthree of the contest to put Louisville up 45-43.  Then Mullett tipped a Crusader pass into the hands of Jordan Monnot who floated the ball ahead and back to Mullett for the score.  47-43.  Finally, Chandler Rice went cross-court to Nees who delivered a long rang two-pointer to give the Leopards a five-point advantage.

Louisville would not score again.  Yet, unbelievably their defense held.  They endured an immediate answering three-pointer by Dotson with 3:10 remaining to cut their lead down to 49-47.  Then they shut Central Catholic down from the field for the remainder of the contest.  The Crusaders foul shooting also played a role in the outcome as they made just 2 of 7 shots from the free throw line in the fourth quarter and shot just 33% (5 of 15) for the game.

With just seconds remaining and the Leps up 49-48, Central grabbed their own offensive rebound after a pair of missed free throws.  The Crusaders desperately looked for a hole in the Leopard defense, but failed to find any.  With just seconds remaining  Clara Lemmon intercepted a pass in the key and the Leopards handled the ball with pin-point passes to run out the rest of the clock and clinch victory.

Even if Central had fouled in the final seconds, it would not have made a difference because they only recorded 3 fouls in the second half.  Amazingly, the Crusaders committed just 5 fouls in the entire contest and consequently the Lady Leps shot just 1 of 2 from the free throw line for the entire game.

With the victory, Louisville finished the first ever 22-game regular season at 16-6 overall.  The Lady Leopards are now 17-20 all-time against the Crusaders, but have taken the last four meetings.  This pressure-packed physical contest should prepare them well for the DI District Tournament at Walsh next week.  Louisville will play the winner of Lake Vs. New Philadelphia in the Sectional Final on Friday, February 22 at 6:00 PM.

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STATISTICS

LEOPARDS 49, CRUSADERS 48

LEOPARDS: Nees 5 0-0 11, H. Lemmon 4 0-0 10, Mullett 4 0-0 8, Rankin 4 0-0 8, C. Lemmon 3 0-0 7, Monnot 2 1-2 5.  TOTAL 22 1-2 49.

3-Pointers (4): H. Lemmon (2), C. Lemmon, Rankin

Team FT: 1-2 50%

CRUSADERS: Nixdorff 6 2-4 14, H. Miller 4 0-0 12, Dotson 3 2-2 9, Scott 3 0-4 6, S. Miller 1 1-2 3, Thomas 1 0-0 3, Risaliti 0 1-3 1.  TOTAL 18 5-15 48.

3-Pointers (6): H. Miller (4), Dotson, Thomas

Team FT: 5-15 33%

Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL

Louisville 18-16-6-9–49

Central Catholic 14-11-13-10–58

Fouls: 13-5 Louisville

Turnovers: 23-15 Central

Records: Louisville 16-6, Central Catholic 15-7

UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next play the winner of Lake/New Philadelphia in the DI Sectional Finals on Friday, February 22 at 6:00 PM at Walsh University.

PICTURES

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JV: Central Catholic 38, Louisville 36

Emily Hollifield scored a game-high 14 points, but the Lady Leopards JV squad closed the 2012-13 campaign with a 38-36 loss to host Canton Central Catholic Wednesday.

Down 32-26, Louisville rallied with an 10-1 run to take a 36-33 lead with under 2 minutes left in the contest.

However, the Crusaders answered by getting a clutch three-pointer by Laura Krupar with a minute to go and a fade away basket by Hanna Risaliti with 28 seconds left in the game.

Louisville failed to score on their final two possessions and Risaliti sealed the deal by blocking a Leopard three-pointer in the waning seconds.

Flynn led Central with 12 points, while Krupar scored 8 and Risaliti added 7. Morgan Paulus also finished with 8 and Rachel Zeller dropped in 6 for Louisville who finishes the season at 17-4.

STATISTICS

CRUSADERS 38, LEOPARDS 36

LEOPARDS: Hollifield 7 0-0 14, Paulus 3 2-2 8, Zeller 1 4-6 6, Bartolet 2 0-0 4, Benzel 0 2-2 2, Hamsher 1 0-2 2.  TOTAL 14 8-12 36.

3-Pointers: None

Team FT: 8-12 67%

CRUSADERS: Flynn 5 1-6 12, Krupar 3 1-2 8, Risaliti 3 1-4 7, Miller 2 1-2 6, DeMatteis 2 1-2 5, Storey 0 0-2 0.  TOTAL 15 5-18 38.

3-Pointers (3): Flynn, Krupar, Miller

Team FT: 5-18 28%

Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL

Louisville 6-6-12-11–36

Central Catholic 7-8-11-12–38

Fouls: 16-12 Louisville

Turnovers: 25-15 Louisville

Records: Louisville 17-4

PICTURES

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