Hawks’ win means three teams tie for league title
Knight beats Lancaster, both share GL with Highland
LANCASTER — Knight girls’ basketball coach Danny Henderson was a bit emotional following his team’s game against Lancaster.
One because his team won and two because Henderson said his team did what nobody thought it could do entering the season.
“This one is special,” he said. “This team overachieved all season.”
The Hawks entered Friday night’s matchup with the Eagles one game behind their opponent in the Golden League standings. Knight left Lancaster’s raucous gymnasium with a thrilling 42-35 victory and with it sliced the Golden League title into thirds along with the Eagles and Highland.
“One thing about this league is matchups. We matchup up better with Lancaster than we do with Highland,” Henderson said. “Early on when the ball wasn’t going they kept trying. Since the beginning of the year, they didn’t look back.”
The Hawks defeated Lancaster, 5448, on Jan. 21 at Knight High School. However, Highland defeated Knight twice and the Eagles defeated the Bulldogs twice. The three teams will enter the playoffs as Golden league champions, but since Knight beat Lancaster twice, and both teams are in the same division, the Hawks presumably will go as the league’s top seed and a home game. Highland, in a different division, will represent the league as the other Golden League No. 1 team.
“I’m just ecstatic. We’re all three league champions,” Henderson said. “This team has so much heart.”
The Hawks defeated the Eagles on the regular season finale at Knight High School in 2018 as both teams shared the league title that season as well.
“We had plenty of opportunities, but we missed those opportunities. It’s very disappointing. We had control of our own destiny and we didn’t defend our home court,” Eagles head coach Jessica Morrison said. “(Give Knight credit), Danny (Henderson) did a heck of a job developing his players. We can definitely move past this.”
Neither team shot the ball well and Lancaster (17-7, 12-2) held a slim 25-21 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Blessing McBride netted the Hawks
first 3-pointer of the game, after they had missed their first 11 attempts, to open the fourth quarter trimming the lead to 25-24. McBride followed that up with another bucket as she went on her own personal 5-0 run, and Knight, which trailed most of the first three quarters, led 26-25.
Another 3-pointer by Dimetria Johnson capped an 8-0 run as the Hawks (15-10, 12-2) inflated their lead to 29-25. Lancaster rallied to tie the score, 29-29, later in the quarter following buckets by Rayshanti McNeal-Price and Mea Madison.
Knight’s leader Keyna Hadley put her team back on top 31-29 with 4:20 remaining in the quarter. Hadley fouled out only a minute later with 14 points and one of Knight’s key ball handlers could only sit and watch.
McBride and Bailey Cassell picked up the slack in Hadley’s absence. Both were key down the stretch as Cassell, who struggled for the first three quarters, netted 7-of-8 free throws in the final frame and McBride hit two key free throws and another bucket to extend the lead to 37-31 with 2:23 left.
“The whole game we played with a lot of energy and we kept our heads in the game. There was no negative energy out there on the court for us and that’s what pulled us through,” said McBride, who finished with a teamhigh 14 points. “We had to have a short memory (following Thursday’s loss to Highland). I was always told don’t think about last night. We pushed through all season long and now we’re Golden League champions. We knew what we had to do and we got it done.”
The Eagles trailed 3932 and attempted a comeback. A steal and layup by Brooklyn Curry and a chance for a 3-point opportunity was negated after Curry was called for an offensive foul following a charge by Cassell, giving the ball back to the Hawks.
Knight had trouble in the waning 70 seconds of the game as it turned the ball over three times, but Lancaster could not convert on the other end.
“We played hard and we fought until the end. Everybody tried their best,” said Madison, who finished with 12 points. “We turned the ball over too much. We have to make every possession count. It’s not the end for us, it’s only the beginning. We’re going to come stronger and harder next game.”