‘Discover Treasure Within’

Lincoln Recharges Cannons, Force Pirates To Abandon Ship

LINCOLN — Nine points and 4:05 stood between Cedarville and a sweep of Lincoln’s homecoming varsity basketball games, but Lincoln recharged their cannons and forced the Pirates to abandon ship.

In a comeback that rocked the house and shocked the Pirates, Lincoln won 53-50 in overtime to record a girls basketball conference win Friday.

With newly-crowned basketball homecoming queen, Alyssa Neeley, assisted by her teammates on the homecoming court trading their finery for battle uniforms, the assault was repelled.

Lincoln coach Deon Birkes said Morgan Reed played a great game and was aggressive on offense as well as playing good defense.

Birkes played the part of portmaster, barking out orders and altering the game’s course assuring the Pirates couldn’t dock in Wolf Harbor.

“I won’t have a voice tomorrow or any energy,” Birkes said in the aftermath, having steered Lincoln back to what seemed like an improbable victory.

Malia Hernandez hit a 3pointer to boost the Pirates to a 41-32 advantage before Lincoln rallied behind Nikki Thordsen, who scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth-quarter.

Lincoln’s boys coach Tim Rich (who assists Birkes with the girls) is a fan of the legendary Julius Erving, but it was Thordsen playing like one of Erving’s Philadelphia 76ers teammates, Bobby Jones, one of the all-time great defenders in the history of basketball. Thordsen had a finish that Jones would be proud of.

Thordsen scored an offbalance shot in traffic off of a Pirate turnover to begin the comeback. After Birkes called time-out, the tall, long-armed forward stole the in-bounds pass and converted a lay-up. Hernandez then made a pair of free throws (her last points of the contest) to make it 4336 with 2:36 showing. On the Lady Wolves’ next possession, Thordsen drove hard to the hoop, but was cut off and dished to Reed in front of the basket for a bucket.

Harley Moore hit a foul shot for Cedarville to keep the Pirates ahead by six, but Reed stole an in-bounds pass and found Shelby Rowe cutting to the hoop. Rowe’s layup and free throw cut the deficit in half. Lincoln got a break when Micayla Bledsoe was called for steps erasing a made basket when she got free on an inbounds play in the frontcourt. Lincoln then got the ball to Hayle Sugg. Sugg missed the layup, but put in her own miss making it a one-point game.

Morgan Brown’s charityshots pushed the visitors back in front, 46-43, at the 38 second mark, but Thordsen scored nine seconds later and had a hand in Reed’s go-ahead bucket that came on a feed from Sugg after Thordsen cleared it. Moore tied the game, at 47all on a free throw and when Rashelle Goldman’s shot at the buzzer missed, the game went into overtime. “Thordsen did a great job tonight and she had big steals and made buckets,” Birkes said, adding Lincoln got a great team effort from a lot of different players.

Birkes noted while some players were in foul trouble and Thordsen eventually exited with five personals, various players made an impact. In overtime, Sugg dove onto the hardwood and came up with a steal. Neeley passed out of the post to a Rowe open on the right-wing, who hit for three. Brown answered with a trifecta for Cedarville to tie the game, at 50-all. Then, Sugg, who led all scorers with 18, set up in the low-post and her teammates found her. The 5-foot-10 forward spun right to score off the glass. “Sugg is a great player. She listened in the huddle and ripped through two people, who gave her a split, and put the ball in the hole,” Birkes said, calling the score which put Lincoln ahead, 52-50, a huge play.

Two pirates, Hernandez and Moore, fouled out and were forced to walk across hardwood planks to the bench and Rowe added an insurance free throw in the waning seconds.

After a time-out, the crafty Pirates tried to draw blood one last time by setting a pick on Goldman, who was guarding the in-bounder. After receiving the ball from the referee, Cheyenne Clark ran down the baseline out- of- bounds and Brown fell down as Goldman side-stepped her while tracking Clark. The officials weren’t buying the put-on and Lincoln won 53-50.

Birkes said the team has faced a lot of things this year.

“It’s easy to show up every night when you’re winning, but when you’re 4-13 and you still show up every night and practice hard, that means something,” Birkes said.

Birkes said the comeback win will mean more in life for the Lincoln girls than it will in basketball.

“These girls keep coming back, they are winners in life and they are the kind of family members you want around you,” Birkes said.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER