Louisville at Carrollton Girls Basketball Video Highlights 2011
Louisville 61, Carrollton 58
Molly Brown hit a game-winning three-pointer with 1.2 seconds remaining to give the Lady Leopards an improbable 61-58 victory at Carrollton. Louisville trailed by as many as 19 before earning their first road victory of the season. Brown led Louisville with 17 points, while Clara Lemmon, Brianna Libertore, and Mackenzie Storlie also all reached double digits.
Carrollton 22, Louisville 3. That’s what the scoreboard inside the Carrollton High School gymnasium read with 1:25 remaining in the first quarter. As one Leopard Fan described it after the game, “They were throwing dirt on our grave in the first quarter.” That’s exactly how it felt. Carrollton shot 75% from the field in the opening quarter, which included making 4 of 6 shots from beyond the arch. The Lady Leps game appeared to have been sucked into the black hole (name for Carrollton’s Gym/Student Section).
But these were the Louisville Lady Leopards. These were the defending NBC Champions and they were not going to lay down quietly. They began to chip away at the deficit getting buckets from Lemmon and Libertore to shrink the Warrior’s lead to 15 at the end of the opening quarter.
In the second quarter Louisville continued to dig into the difference and lowered it to single digits twice. However, Carrollton continued to shoot over 55% for the quarter and extended their lead to 33-22 at the half after Monica Starre scored on a fast break with less than 30 seconds remaining.
Both teams battled back and forth in the third quarter and neither team could gain momentum or break away from the other on a big run. Louisville’s Chandler Rice and Carrollton’s Taylor Lowdermilk exchanged threes in the quarter. Loose balls bounced right for the Warriors, mistakes help contain Louisville’s offense, and the Lady Leps simply could not buy a call.
However, Angela Risaliti zoomed by Warriors defenders for a lay-in and Brown rained a three-ball in the final 85 seconds of the period. The small surge left the Lady Leps trailing by 47-38 as they confidently headed to the final quarter.
Lowdermilk opened the quarter with a basketball to put Carrollton up by double digits once again. Then disaster struck the Warriors as Lowdermilk was injured a few plays later. The Warriors’ leader scored 22 points, hit 4 three-pointers, and made all 6 of her attempts at the free throw line for the game. She would return, but the Warriors were no longer the same team. The hunter had became the prey.
The Lady Leps seized momentum and opportunity in the final seven minutes. Back-to-back made layups by Libertore and Storlie both drew fouls and both converted on their extra charity tosses to cut the deficit to 49-44.
The two squads then exchanged possessions and back-to-back jump balls before Louisville was fouled going to the basket three times. Each time Libertore and Lemmon made Carrollton pay as the two combined to hit six straight free throws. The clutch free throws gave Louisville their first advantage of the contest (50-49) at the 4:24 mark of the fourth quarter.
Carrollton, as they did all afternoon, had an answer to everything the Leopards accomplished. Tess Sanders came right down the court and erased the Leps lead with her third three-pointer of the game. Sanders finished with 13 points on the afternoon and Carrollton’s long range shooters made 7 of 14 from three.
Free throws allowed the Warriors to build a 57-52 lead with two minutes remaining in a key conference matchup. The hustle of Risaliti and her two clutch free throws helped turn the Lady Leps dream of a comeback into a reality.
Carrollton hit just 1 of their next four free throws and Louisville made them pay for missing their mark by getting key rebounds. Brown scored on a lay-in and Storlie hit from the left elbow to tie the game at 58-58. On Carrollton’s ensuing possession, Risaliti once again came up with a mammoth defensive play when she forced a jump ball at mid-court giving possession back to Louisville with 29 seconds left in the game.
After a timeout, Louisville ran the clock down under 10 seconds. Lemmon to Brown, Brown over to Storlie, Storlie drives and passes back over to Brown, Brown shoots from the left wing… PANDEMONIUM. She canned it, the scoreboard flashed 61-58, and the Lady Leps celebrated.
After 1.2 seconds were put back up on the clock, Storlie intercepted the in-bounds pass and Louisville escaped with a much needed NBC victory.
STATISTICS
LEOPARDS: Brown 5 5-6 17, C. Lemmon 3 6-8 12, Libertore 4 3-3 11, Storlie 3 4-9 10, Rice 2 0-0 5, Risaliti 1 2-2 4, Monnot 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 20-28 61.
TEAM FG: 19-55 35%
TEAM 3PT: 3-13 23% | Brown (2), Rice (1)
TEAM FT: 20-28 71%
WARRIORS: Lowdermilk 6 6-6 22, Sanders 4 2-5 13, Devine 4 1-2 9, Starre 3 2-4 8, Tullis 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 20 11-17 58.
TEAM FG: 20-43 47%
TEAM 3PT: 7-14 50% | Lowdermilk (4), Sanders (3)
TEAM FT: 11-17 65%
Team 1-2-3-4-Total
Louisville 7-15-16-23–61
Carrollton 22-11-14-11–58
Rebounds: Louisville 25-22
Fouls: Louisville 16-15
Records: Louisville 5-1, 3-1; Carrollton 4-3, 2-2
NEXT UP: The Lady Leps will next host the Marlington Dukes on Wednesday, December 28. JV will tip at 6:00 and Varsity will follow at approximately 7:30.
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