Lady Leopards Stun Undefeated #3 Ranked Hoban 45-43 – Girls Basketball
Louisville 45, Hoban 43
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The Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Team rallied for a 45-43 victory over the #3 ranked Akron Archbishop Hoban Knights Thursday Afternoon as part of the South Range Holiday Hoops Classic played at South Range High School. With the victory, Louisville improves to 8-2 on the season and drops previously undefeated Hoban to 8-1 on the season with the loss.
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Wasara Scores Game Winner with 7.7 Left
Lady Knights sophomore shooting guard Niera Stevens scored in the lane via a pass from sophomore point guard Taylyn Banta with 23.8 seconds remaining in the game. The basket tied the game at 43-43 with the Leopards taking possession.
Senior Brooke Haren and sophomore Taylor McCully worked the ball across mid-court as the clock ticked down. Then McCully threw an overhead pass from the right wing across the court to senior Lexi Wasara near the left corner.
Wasara pump faked near the arch drawing in the Hoban defender who overplayed the potential shot or pass back to the right. This left a wide open lane to the left for Wasara to the basket. She drove hard to the rack and tossed up a shot with her right hand high off the glass just before Knights sophomore Makenzie Grant came charging in threw the lane to defend. The shot dropped through the net with 7.7 seconds remaining to put Louisville in front 45-43.
“For her to come through on those last couple of buckets. You know for her to patiently do a little triple threat pump fake there and then drive to the hole and put it in on that final shot. That was senior like.”
– Coach Dan Moody on Lexi Wasara
The clock continued to run after the shot went down, but Hoban didn’t call their final timeout. The Lady Knights were only able to get off a deep three-pointer just before the horn sounded, but the shot it off the back of the iron and missed its mark.
The Lady Leopards erupted in celebration mobbing Wasara in front of the scorer’s table.
YSN Postgame Interview with Haren & Wasara
Interview Video Courtesy of YSN
Leopards Rally Back from Double Digit Deficit
Louisville and Hoban played to a 7-7 tie at the end of the first quarter, but the Knights outscored the Leopards 18-8 in the second quarter to take a double digit advantage into the half. Louisville managed to cut the deficit in half at 35-30 by the end of the third quarter.
The Lady Leopards continued to close the gap in the final stanza and finally caught all the way up with 3:15 left in the game. In transition, junior Courtney Barwick bounced a pass to Wasara who was undefended. She laid it home for two points to tie the game at 41-41.
Louisville took its first lead of the second half less than a minute later. McCully pulled down a rebound and heaved down court to Haren who was all alone in the front court. She scored the easy transition layup to put the Lady Leopards in front 43-41 with 2:20 left to play.
Haren Leads Louisville with Game High 20
Haren hit Louisville’s only 2 three-pointers and scored 11 of her game high 20 points in the second half to lead the Lady Leopards. Barwick also finished with 14 and Wasara added 4 to round out Louisville’s top scorers.
“That’s what she does. She’s a three-point shooter, she’s a mid-range shooter, she can take it to the hole with a lot of strength, and a phenomenal free throw shooter in those clutch situations as well. She came through for us in every way you can imagine, but more importantly she’s a leader. When she walks onto the court we feel confident that we can hang with anybody and the entire team just feeds off of her confidence that she gives to us.”
– Head Coach Dan Moody on Brooke Haren
Stevens Leads Hoban with Team High 11
Stevens’ game-tying basket in the final minute put her in double figures as she finished with a team high 11 for Archbishop Hoban . Senior small forward Devin Harris also hit double digits with 10 and sophomore small forward Makenzie Grant tacked on 9 for the Lady Knights.
Archbishop Hoban was undefeated at 8-0 and ranked #3 on MaxPreps coming into the contest.
“It really showed that there is no limit to what we can accomplish this year with this group of girls…You know this is not our home court, to go on the road and knock off Hoban after that long drive up here. The sky’s the limit for this group and we’re so excited about it right now.”
– Head Coach Dan Moody on the Lady Leopards win over top ranked Hoban
YSN Postgame Interview with Coach Moody
Interview Video Courtesy of YSN
Louisville Notches 1st Win Over Hoban
The victory is the Leopards’ first win over the Knights in team history. Louisville is now 1-3 against Hoban all-time with all four meetings coming on a neutral court. The Lady Knights won the previous three meetings all in the postseason tournament in 1988, 1993, and 2001. Those games were hosted at various places with in the Lake school district.
<<< Previous 2001 | Hoban All-Time Series
UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will continue to compete at the South Range Holiday Hoops Classic when they take on the Warren Howland Tigers on Friday, December 29. JV will begin at 1:00 PM and Varsity will follow around 2:30 PM from South Range High School.
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Louisville Vs. Hoban Girls Varsity Basketball Statistics
LEOPARDS 45, KNIGHTS 43
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 7-8-15-15–45
Hoban 7-18-10-8–43
Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Brooke Haren | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 20 |
| Courtney Barwick | 5 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| Lexi Wasara | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Chay Cline | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Mabel Kiko | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Taylor McCully | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 14 | 2 | 16 | 11 | 16 | 45 |
Hoban Knights Girls Varsity Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Niera Stevens | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| Devin Harris | 4 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| Makenzie Grant | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 9 |
| Mackenzie Edingburgh | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kathleen Jones | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Taylyn Banta | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Zoey Hodge | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 16 | 1 | 17 | 8 | 17 | 43 |
Fouls: 14-14
Records: Louisville 8-2, Hoban 8-1
JV: Louisville 30, Hoban 26
JV Statistics
LEOPARDS 30, KNIGHTS 26
Team 1-2-3-4–TOTAL
Louisville 12-3-11-4–30
Hoban 9-5-9-3–26
Louisville Leopards Girls JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Violet Lab | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Riley Walters | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Reagan Biery | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Karis Miglich | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Sammi Beatty | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Lilli Lab | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Reese Riley | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| TOTAL | 6 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 30 |
Hoban Knights Girls JV Basketball Stats
| Player | 2PT | 3PT | FG | FTM | FTA | Points |
| Carolina Mccarthy | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Eva Modugno | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Olivia Vowles | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Kate Wiedt | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| Sadie Whitlow | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jonna Albertson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 8 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 26 |
Fouls: 12-9 Louisville
Records: Louisville 6-4
