STRETCH RUN LIFTS ’STANGS
Williams' 3-point play puts M'town ahead to stay as team rallies to knock off Timberwolves 49-44
MIDDLETOWN >> Skylar Williams’ three-point play with just under three minutes remaining put Middletown ahead to stay, a pair of Paige Astley free throws extended the Mustangs’ lead, and Amanda Hart’s offensive rebound and putback proved to be the dagger in a 49-44 victory over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves on Saturday afternoon in Middletown.
The North Central League I varsity girls basketball rematch didn’t figure to be all that close
given that the Mustangs (5-0 league, 10-5 overall) had beaten up on the Timberwolves 53-28 a little more than a month ago in Fort Bragg, but the Timberwolves (2-3, 6-7) proved to be all kinds of trouble for the Mustangs on Saturday.
“They’ve really gotten better,” Middletown head coach Andy Brown said. “I think if we had done a better job with our free throws or rebounded better it might not have been as close.”
Fort Bragg appeared to have Middletown on the ropes with a 40-34 lead in the final seconds of the third quarter, prompting
Brown to call a timeout to rally his players.
“I told them we have to regroup right now and pull this thing out,” Brown said. “They did it.”
Middletown trailed 40-35 as the fourth quarter opened. Both sides missed a fair share of makeable shots through the first four minutes of the final period although the Mustangs were able to chip away, closing to 40-38. Fort Bragg hit a pair of free throws with 3:15 left to go up 42-38, but Mia Hoogendoorn (14 points) answered with one of her two 3-pointers on the
night, burying a shot from near the corner, to slice the Timberwolves’ lead to 42-41.
What followed was a play that featured plenty of action at both ends of the courts although most of the attention was focused on Williams as she sliced her way to the basket, flipped up a shot that went in and was fouled. At the other end of the court, Middletown’s Ella Rockwell and a Fort Bragg player were battling underneath the basket and the physical exchange ended with the Timberwolf player landing a punch that was captured on
video. The play happened near the Middletown student section and play had to be briefly halted — even before Williams would sink her free throw to complete the three-point play — as order was restored. No foul was assessed because the game officials, like most of the fans, were watching Williams put Middletown ahead to stay on the other end of the floor.
“You can’t expect them to get everything,” Brown said of the officials. “I was watching Williams, I didn’t see it.”
With Middletown back in front 44-42 thanks to Williams (13 points), the Mustangs held the Timberwolves scoreless on their next trip down the floor and then went to the line for a one-and-one after Hart drew a foul with 1:57 remaining. She missed the front end, but the Mustangs went back to the line for another one-and-one with 1:37 to go and Astley hit her first shot to make it 45-42.
A short time later a jump ball call resulted in Middletown receiving possession, but the Mustangs committed a five-second violation trying to inbound the basketball. Fort Bragg turned it right back over to the Mustangs and Astley was fouled seconds later, which put the Mustangs in the double bonus. The senior hit the first of her two free throws, then missed the
second. Hart was there to rebound the miss and she put the ball right back up into the basket to make it 48-42 and seal the victory.
Fort Bragg missed a long 3-pointer but scored off the offensive rebound with 29 seconds left to close to 4844.
Hart hit the second of two free throws with 7.8 seconds left to round out the scoring.
“We worked through some adversity and really showed some heart coming back from six points down,” Brown said. “We didn’t shoot well at the free-throw line, but we hit some big free throws there at the end.”
There were 13 lead changes overall, most of those in the first half, during a game in which the two teams were never separated by more than six points. Middletown had a five-point lead on two occasions, but the two teams spent the majority of the game within two or three points of each other, a big change from their Dec. 14 meeting at Fort Bragg.
“They focused all of their defense on a couple of our players,” Brown said of the Timberwolves.
Middletown’s defense answered in the fourth quarter by limiting Fort Bragg to four points, including only one basket.
Kamryn Atkins had eight points for the Mustangs, who were playing their second league game in two nights after being off for 16 straight days because of several COVID-19 postponements. They’ll return
to action next week with back-to-back road games Thursday (against Clear Lake in Lakeport) and Friday (at St. Helena), and play four games the week of Jan. 31-Feb. 5.
JV game
Middletown beat Upper Lake 38-24 in a nonleague junior varsity game despite suiting up only five players and playing only four during one stretch of the game. Bella Santiago’s 21 points led the Mustangs and Abby Tacla had nine.