Leopards Use Last Second Defensive Stand to Edge Warriors
Louisville 49, West Branch 48
Alexa Oberster poked away a West Branch pass into the hands of Sarah Lairson as the final seconds 
ticked away lifting Louisville to a 49-48 home victory Saturday Afternoon at LHS. With the victory, the Leopards improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the NBC.
Abby Beaver poured in a game-high 22 points to lead the Leopards. Alexa Oberster also tallied 8 and both Ellie Jackson & Lairson added 6 a piece.
Louisville led 12-10 after the end of the first quarter before West Branch used a 11-2 run to pull ahead 21-16. Two baskets by Beaver trimmed the Warriors lead to 21-20 by halftime.
The Lady Leopards extended that run to 9-0 after scoring the first five points of the second half. Jackson laced a three and Beaver rolled to the rack once again. The two squads traded baskets and leads several times throughout the rest of the third quarter. Erin Hahn toed the arch on a buzzer-beating field goal to give Louisville a 38-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Warriors reclaimed the lead at 40-38, before Lairson kick started the next Leopards run. She spun her way into the paint and dropped in a bucket to tie the game at 40-40. A few possessions later she stole the ball in the backcourt and drew a foul in the process. She hit both free throws to give Louisville the lead back at 42-40.
Defensive pressure by Beaver and Hahn forced a West Branch turnover on their next possession. On the other end, Lairson drew a double team leaving Beaver wide open to capitalize on her second three-pointer of the game to put the Leopards ahead 45-40. Beaver capped off Louisville’s second 9-0 run of the second half with a runner in the paint with 3:50 to play.
The Leopards attempted to run out the clock after that, but the Warriors kept the defensive pressure on. Kayla Hovorka stole a pass and Brenna Rito scored on the ensuing fast break to make it 47-44. After successfully stalling, Lairson was fouled putting Louisville in the bonus. She capitalized on the charity by making the pair to give the Leopards a 49-44 lead with 33.9 seconds left to play.
West Branch answered back 10 seconds later when Sarah Tennefoss grabbed an offensive board and scored on a lay-in. After a timeout, Rito stole the Louisville in-bound pass in the right corner and was fouled while attempting a layup. She made both shots from the line to get the Warriors to within 49-48.
The Leopards successfully moved the ball across the timeline, but then turned the ball over out of bounds. West Branch had one more chance to win the game, but the Louisville defense did the rest.
Rito led the Warriors with a team-high 13 points and made all 7 of her free throw attempts. Natalie Zuchowski also scored 11 and Hovorka scored 10 for West Branch.
With the victory, the Leopards have now defeated the Warriors in three straight meetings. This is their longest winning streak against WBHS since 2010. West Branch still leads the all-time series 36-22, but the series is now an even 15-15 in games play at Louisville.
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UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next travel to Alliance to take on the Aviators on Wednesday, December 14. JV will begin at 6:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 7:30 PM.
