SHP girls KO Menlo in OT

Friday night, the Lady Knights faced rival Sacred Heart Prep which, like Menlo, came into the game with an unbeaten mark in Foothill Division play.

And for the second time in seven days, there is a new league leader. Caroline Barclay’s layup at the buzzer sent the game into overtime where SHP outscored the Knights 9-5 to pull off a 59-55 victory and take over first place in the WBAL Foothill Division standings.

“The league is out there for a team to go get,” SHP head coach Kai Bell said. “We hope to be one of those teams.”

SHP (3-0 WBAL Foothill, 11-4 overall) certainly is in the mix after a gritty victory over a Menlo team that is ranked No. 22 in the state by Maxpreps.com. But with neither team shooting the ball particularly well — Menlo connected on 20 of 51 attempts, while the Gators were 19 for 70 — the game was decided by the little things and the Gators’ came out way ahead of the Knights in that aspect of the game. SHP outrebounded Menlo 21-13 in the second half and while the Knights won the overall rebounding battle, 37-35, it was the Gators who dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 20 compared to 11 for the Knights.

SHP also did a better job of taking care of the ball, giving the ball away only 11 times compared to 24 for the Knights and the Gators ended up making 14 free throws to just eight for Menlo.

The Gators’ advantage in the offensive rebounding and ball security starts with senior point guard Denise Stine, who despite being the smallest person on the court, played like she was a 7-footer. In addition to her 14 points, she grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds — 10 of which came on the offensive end.

“She’s our leader,” said Charlotte Levison, a senior guard who pairs with Stine to handle co-captain duties. “She’s the smallest person out there, but she’s a brick wall.”

Levison also came up big for the Gators, scoring 14 points. Kennedy Anderson added 13 for SHP.

Menlo’s Avery Lee led all scorers, finishing with 17 points. Sharon Nejad added 13, Coco Layton drained four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points.

The Knights, who took the lead with an 8-0 to start the second quarter, was clinging to a 2-point advantage, 38-36, going into the fourth period. But a pair of Levison free throws tied the game at 38-all and Grace Florendo, who struggled with her shot all game, knocked down her first 3-pointer to give the Gators a 41-38 lead, their first since a 12-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Menlo came back with a Maeia Makoni 3 to retie the score at 41 and Nejad scored in the post for a 43-41 advantage. She followed that with an up-and-under move with 3:09 left in regulation to put the Knights back ahead, 45-43. A Layton 3 from the corner pushed Menlo’s lead to 5, 48-43.

Florendo knocked down her second 3 of the quarter and a driving layup from Anderson tied the game at 48 with 1:02 to play.

With 10 seconds left in regulation, Menlo had the ball out of bounds on the sideline. The ball eventually ended up in the hands of Lee, who turned the corner and drove the wing before getting fouled with seven seconds left. She made both free throws for a 50-48 advantage, forcing the Gators to go the length of the court.

Megan Norris inbounded the ball and the Gators got it into the hands of Stine, who found Barclay under the basket. She hit a high-arcing layup that fell through the net just as the buzzer sounded to send the crowd into a frenzy.

It was all SHP in the overtime. Norris scored from the post to give the Gators a 52-50 lead, one they would not relinquish. Stine followed with an offensive rebound and a putback to put SHP up 4.

She proceeded to score the next four points, scoring 6 of 9 points in the extra period, the last of which was a driving layup.

““[Stine] never stops working,” Bell said.

When Florendo hit the second of two free throws with three seconds left, it gave the Gators a 4-point lead which proved to be insurmountable.

“It was just our grit (being the difference),” Levison said. “We just stayed together.”

That grit and determination showed early for the Gators. Down 7-4 midway through the first period, SHP used a 7-0 run to take an 11-7 advantage and led 12-11 after the first eight minutes.

It looked as if Menlo was poised to pull away after the Knights scored eight straight to open the second quarter to give them a 21-12 lead. But SHP hung around and trailed by eight at the break, 28-20.

The Gators made their move in the third quarter, outscoring Menlo 16-10 and making it a two-point going into the fourth.

“I’m just so proud of the girls,” Bell said.