Carter’s late surge keys South Range

By ERIC HAMILTON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NEW MIDDLETOWN — Life at the top of the league standings isn’t exactly easy street down the stretch. Just ask the South Range High girls basketball team.

A week after losing their first ITCL Tier 1 game, the Raiders faced another scare Thursday night — this time from rival Springfield.

The Tigers rallied from a nine-point third quarter deficit to tie the score at 33 with two minutes left in regulation.

But South Range senior Autumn Carter, who had been held to 10 points up to that point, finally found a crease in the Springfield defense and tallied six points at crunch time. It was just enough to lift her team to a 41-36 victory and maintain the Raiders’ one-game lead over United.

“I know it’s a cliché, but this was a typical South Range-Springfield game,” said South Range coach Matt Reel. “We knew it would be a close game because both teams like to play defense. We shot terribly tonight and Springfield did a nice job defensively limiting Autumn’s shots.

“We just found ways to score when we had to, when the momentum was against us. We know we have the target on our back, but having been in the position where you’re looking up, we’d rather be where we are right now.”

With South Range leading by five heading into the fourth quarter (33-28), the offense for both teams disappeared. It took over 41⁄2 minutes for either team to score a field goal, as defense and turnovers took center stage.

Finally at the 3:21 mark, Springfield’s Ashley Davis made a 3-pointer to tie the score at 33. That ended the Tigers scoring drought at 4:39.

South Range answered on its next offensive possession, as Abby Schuler converted a jumper to put the Raiders up 35-33 with under three minutes to go.

After the Raiders extended the advantage to 39-33, Springfield again surged, this time on a 3 by Melissa Huffman with 40 seconds left. That basket closed the gap to 39-36.

That’s as close as the Tigers got, as Carter connected on a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to secure South Range’s win.

“It doesn’t take much for us to get fired up to play South Range,” said Springfield coach Sandi Kohler. “In this rivalry, it doesn’t matter what sport it is.

“Our kids played hard and even though we’re 5-12 they haven’t quit. We executed our game plan, but the bottom line was that the ball just wouldn’t go in the hole for us.”

Neither team shot the ball well, thanks in part to good defense. South Range finished 17-of-44 (39 percent) from the field and 4-of-11 (36 percent) at the free throw line. Springfield was 12-for-44 (27 percent) and 8-of-12 (67 percent) at the stripe.

Carter led South Range with 16 points and Caitlin Carter added nine. Springfield was paced by Rachel Kennedy’s 10 points and seven from Ashley Davis.

The teams will meet again in a few weeks in the first round of the Division III sectional tournament at Mineral Ridge.