Lady Leopards Win in OT, 1st Win Over McKinley Since 1992 – Girls Basketball
Louisville 55, Canton McKinley 49, OT
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The Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Team defeated the visiting Canton McKinley Bulldogs 55-49 in overtime Saturday Afternoon at Louisville High School. Louisville has now won 4 of their last 5 and improves to 7-2 with the victory.
Varsity Recap | Varsity Box Score | JV Box Score
Haren Pours in Game High 27
Senior Brooke Haren scored 14 of her game high 27 points in the opening half to lead the Lady Leopards. She would also sink her final 7 free throws including going 6-of-6 from the charity stride in overtime.
Junior Courtney Barwick and sophomore Taylor McCully also hit a pair of three-pointers and finished in double figures. Barwick tallied 12 and McCully would tack on 10.
Leopards Build Double Digit Advantage
Louisville took control of the game from the onset using an early 7-0 run to build a 9-2 lead. McKinley would cut the deficit to 14-10 by the end of the first quarter, but the Leopards would answer with another 9-2 string to take a double digit 23-12 lead after Haren splashed through a three-pointer from beyond the left side of the arch with 5:11 before halftime.
The Lady Bulldogs rallied back again to trim the Louisville advantage to 25-22 by halftime. McKinley got within a single point early on in the third quarter when sophomore guard Mya Taylor hit home a pair of free throws to make it 25-24.
The Lady Leopards would bounce back with a 17-4 run to take their largest lead of the game at 42-28. Barwick made a pair of three-pointers, Haren scored three buckets, McCully made a three-pointer, and junior Chay Cline added her second basket of the night during the third quarter run.
Bulldogs Use 17-1 Run to Take 1st Lead
The Lady Bulldogs were not about to easily let go of their three decade dominance of the Lady Leopards. McKinley closed the third quarter on a 5-0 run to cut their deficit to single digits at 42-33.
The Lady Bulldogs scored the first 9 points of the fourth quarter to knot the game at 42-42. Freshman guard Ka’myah Gisentaner forced a steal and threw ahead to Taylor on a fast break. Taylor scored the game-tying layup to tie the game with exactly two minutes remaining in the contest.
Louisville burned a timeout to talk things over. On the ensuing possession, Haren drew a foul in the lane that sent her to the line for a pair of free throws. She missed the first, but buried the second shot to put the Lady Leopards back in front at 43-42 with 1:25 remaining. The make accounted for Louisville’s first points of the fourth quarter and also broke a 7:39 scoring drought overall.
McKinley worked the ball around before junior forward Tianni Hilliard was fouled under the hoop. She made her first attempt from the free throw stride to tie the game at 43-43 with 57.5 seconds left in regulation. Hilliard then missed the second shot, but Taylor came down with the rebound off a deflection. Taylor bounced the ball out to Gisentaner on the left wing and Gisentaner tossed the ball back to Taylor who took control at point. Taylor used a pick and drove to the basket for the go-ahead layup with 44.3 seconds remaining.
The 45-43 advantaged was the Lady Bulldogs first lead of the game.
McCully Scores Game-Tying Basket
Louisville wasted no time in tying the game up on the other end. Sophomore Maggie Baker received a pass from Haren in the backcourt, spun around a defender to create space, and then threw pass from the timeline. No defenders stood between McCully and the basket. She retrieved the lob from Baker under the hoop and laid it home with her left hand on the right side of the hoop with 28.2 seconds remaining. 45-45.
McKinley brought the ball to the front court and called timeout with 18.4 seconds left. A three-point attempt rolled around the rim, hit off the glass, and fell out. Cline was there to snag the rebound in the lane with 7.4 seconds left and passed to Haren. Haren then threw an over-the-shoulder pass to Barwick who was all alone in the front court. The pass was high and Barwick wasn’t able to reel it in. The ball went out of bounds on the baseline with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Taylor took the inbound out of a timeout and heaved a shot from about 60 feet that landed in the referees hand on the opposite baseline. The Leopards and Bulldogs headed to overtime for the first time since 1992.
Louisville Outlasts McKinley in Overtime
McKinley took the first advantage in the extra period when senior guard KyLonee Foster scored from the right elbow. Haren drew a shooting foul on the other end and made both from the line to tie the game at 47-47 with 2:51 left.
On the ensuing possession, the Lady Bulldogs got a good look in the lane but senior Lexi Wasara emphatically swatted the shot attempt to the ground and out of bounds. McKinley retained possession, but eventually turned the ball over when McCully forced a steal in front of the Bulldog bench.
Louisville dribbled the ball across mid-court and eventually called timeout as their initial play didn’t develop. The Leopards would miss on their next shot, but Cline would pull down another offensive rebound to retain possession for LHS. After an injury timeout, Barwick threw an inbound pass from the baseline to Wasara cutting through the middle of the lane. She threw it up off the top of the glass and it dropped into the hole to put Louisville back in front with 1:30 remaining.
The Bulldogs quickly responded on the other end. Freshman guard Trinity Sparks scored on a deep two-pointer in the left corner to knot the game back up at 49-49 just 9 seconds after Wasara had given the Leopards the lead back.
McKinley called a timeout and then Louisville took a timeout to setup a play after dribbling to midcourt. It turned out to be a dandy. Barwick inbounded in front of the scorer’s table to Cline in the front court. Barwick then sprinted down the left side of the court and gained separation from her defender. Cline fed the ball back to Barwick who laid it off the glass and in to give the Leopards the lead once more at 51-49 with 1:02 remaining.
The Lady Bulldogs had a few chances on the other end, but Wasara eventually pulled down a defensive rebound for Louisville and Haren was fouled. Haren would bury 4 shots from the line in the final 17.1 seconds to ice the game for the Lady Leopards 55-49.
Louisville was outscored 12-3 in the eight minute fourth quarter, but flipped the script by outscoring Canton McKinley 10-4 in the four minute overtime period.
Taylor Drops in 22 for Lady Bulldogs
Taylor scored 14 of her team high 22 points in the second half to lead Canton McKinley. Foster also finished in double figures with 15 and Gisentaner added 5.
The Lady Bulldogs are now 4-5 on the season.
Louisville Earns 1st Win Over McKinley Since 1992
Louisville snapped a 12-game losing streak against Canton McKinley with the victory. The Leopards last victory in the series came on December 19, 1992 when they hung on for a 52-51 win over the visiting Bulldogs in five overtimes. That 1992 victory capped off 3 straight wins for LHS over McKinley.
The Lady Leopards are now 5-22 all-time against the Lady Bulldogs, which includes a 3-8 record when playing at Louisville High School in the series. This was the first meeting in the series played at LHS since 2000. McKinley had won the previous 4 matchups played at Louisville coming into the game.
<<< Previous 2022 | Canton McKinley All-Time Series
UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next travel to South Range High School to compete in the South Range Holiday Hoops Classic on Thursday, December 28 and Friday, December 29. They will play the Akron Archbishop Hoban Knights on Thursday at 2:30 PM and the Howland Tigers on Friday at 2:30 PM.
Game Broadcast Courtesy of Straggat Media Network
Social Media Cover Photo By The Louisville Herald
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Canton McKinley at Louisville Girls Varsity Basketball Statistics
LEOPARDS 55, BULLDOGS 49, OT
Team 1-2-3-4-OT–TOTAL
McKinley 9-13-11-12-4–49
Louisville 14-11-17-3-10–55
Canton McKinley Bulldogs Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Mya Taylor | 9 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 22 |
| KyLonee Foster | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 15 |
| Ka’myah Gisentaner | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sha’Rayia Hall | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Trinity Sparks | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tianni Hilliard | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 18 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 16 | 49 |
Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Brooke Haren | 7 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 27 |
| Courtney Barwick | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
| Taylor McCully | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| Chay Cline | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Lexi Wasara | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 15 | 5 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 55 |
Fouls: 13-11 Louisville
Records: Louisville 7-2, Canton McKinley 4-5
JV: Louisville 41, Canton McKinley 26
JV Statistics
LEOPARDS 41, BULLDOGS 26
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
McKinley 8-5-7-6–26
Louisville 10-8-14-9–41
Canton McKinley Bulldogs Girls JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Sha’Rayia Hall | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Trinity Sparks | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Sa’Nyah Gammon | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 6 |
| Shau’Nasia Brewer-McClain | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| K. Chance | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Anyiah Stevens | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 7 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 26 |
Louisville Leopards Girls JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Lilli Lab | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| Reagan Biery | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Violet Lab | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Karis Miglich | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Riley Walters | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
| Sammi Beatty | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Katie Horn | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 7 | 7 | 14 | 6 | 17 | 41 |
Fouls: 14-10 Canton McKinley
Records: Louisville 5-4
