Girls Basketball: Lovell at Tongue River Highlights [VIDEO]

Highlights of the Saturday, January 7th girls basketball game between #1 Lovell at #2 Tongue River.

Watch the highlights of the game!

Aw c’mon girls! We got the top 2 ranked teams in the state playing in the same gym…I know they’re just children but still! The crowd needs to be fired up!

Number 1 Lovell at number 2 Tongue River…first quarter…tongue river wearing the white…they would draw the defense out early and Sarah Nielsen would slip in from behind…she would get a friendly bounce off of the rim and the Lady Eagles score first, up 2-to-nothing.

Lovell would take it outside early on…Alyssa Geiser is open in the corner and she’s got a bone to bury…the defending state champs would jump out to a 6-to-2 lead.

The home team would rebound…opposing teams would be wise to remember where Nielsen is at all times…15 points for the junior and her team is down 7-to-6.

Tongue River only has 2 seniors on this year’s squad…here’s one of them…Tiana Mitchell…she was on the line so that only counted for 2, but she had a big play later…home team leads 9-to-7 after the first 8 minutes.

2^nd quarter…The Lady Bulldogs were taking it to the dog house…Chelsey Ellis stops pops and hits from about 12 feet and it drops…the score is knotted up at 9 points a piece.

This game was a matchup of 2 undefeated teams coming in and both would eventually show why…Erin Robertson puts one up in traffic, but it got her 2 points…Lovell goes back on top 11-to-9 at this point.

But then the Lady Eagles would start to spread their wings and leave the nest…Tara Stimpson will get her first 2 points from the foul line…hey it’s better than 1…the score is tied again at 11-all.

Both teams were working for the rebounds…but when it’s an offensive board…someone might be wide open…and in this case, it was Mitchell and she’d make the defense pay the price…her team is back in command up 16-14.

The long ball was getting it done for last year’s 3^rd place team…although sometimes it wasn’t long enough for 3, so they’d have to settle for 2 at times…Stimpson would demonstrate on this highlight, but the home team still leads 18-14.

Now don’t blink because this was some good heads up defense…Sarah Rawlings saw that pass attempt coming..she’s got a free pass to the hoop…and 1…the extra point was no good but Tongue River had the momentum…up 20-to-14.

They would stay after it for a little while longer…Ashle Bolin puts up one of those…what the heck type shots…that would finish off a 13-to-4 spurt for TR, who now leads 22-to-15.

Lovell needed to get some of the mojo back before halftime and they would…Ellis was hiding behind the crowd, but he saw her go fetch 3 points. That was a much needed basket as the visitors only trailed 22-to-18 going into the locker room.

3^rd quarter…the Lady Bulldogs were sniffing out some points and they were finding them…Amanda Shumway has the scent and she’s got it…12 points for the junior and her team is down 1…22-to-21.

They were getting loose from their chain thanks to a little defense and transition…Shumway will pick off that pass and take it back the other way…bump…bucket…whistle…she earned a treat. The 3 point play has the visitors back up, 24-22..

More turnovers coming up…Shumway gets another swipe, but this time she’ll feed it ahead to Leanne Winterholler who will put that puppy to bed…and that would cap off an 11-zip run by the Lady Bulldogs, who now lead 26-to-22.

Tongue River was in a bit of a drought…5 minutes plus without scoring…Nielsen will take care of that problem herself and get one more for her efforts…that got the score much closer with the home team trailing 26-25.

At times they were scrapping for points, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do..Nielsen gets the job done again as TR would go back up..29-26 heading into the final 8 minutes.

4^th quarter…back came the Lady Bulldogs…Geiser picks a pocket and she’s off to the races on the far side…she’d win of course and we’re back to a 1 point contest…visitors down 29-28.

The senior was starting to heat up and her team figured that they better give her the ball…that’s a happy bulldog in the window wagging her tail…the 3 bomb puts her team back up 31-29.

Let’s get someone else in here…how about Jodi Walker…she’ll get in on the act with the turnaround…Lovell was in pretty good shape with a 35-30 lead.

Skipping ahead…about 25 seconds to go…Tongue River has made zero field goals this quarter and they needed whatever they could get and soon…bad shot but the ball found its way to Stimpson who took care of the slump…but her team is still down 35-33 with not much time left.

Here we go…5 seconds left on the clock…Lovell missed the front end of a 1-and-1…TR needs something…anything…Mitchell…

She got that shot off just in time…it was do or die and she had no choice…but she made the right one. Put 4 more minutes on the clock…this game is going into overtime!

In the extra period…the Lady Eagles would make their move early…Nielsen…board…putback…and the defense had a hard time stopping her…home team is up 38-to-35.

Lovell tried to double her up…but that meant someone was un-guarded…that someone in this case was Eryn Aksamit…a freshman coming off of the bench…she did what she was supposed to doTongue River up 40-to-37.

But the Lady Bulldogs would bite back quickly…the 3-ball is short…we weren’t able to tell who got the board and putback, but it ended up being Shumway…that was big…her team is still growling down 40-to-39.

Later…7 seconds to go…the Lady Eagles with a 1 and 1…first shot is no good…loose ball…Walker gets fouled from behind, so now we’re headed the other way for a few free throws.

This is how the visitors stayed in this game during the extra time..Walker cans both…TR was hoping for another miracle, but a back-court turnover did them in.

It was a well played game on both sides, but Lovell would get out of Dayton, with a 41-40 win.