Chaney pulls past Niles in OT thriller

By Chuck Housteau

YOUNGSTOWN — Chaney senior Nikiea Johnson scored only two points in nearly 40 minutes of basketball against the Niles Red Dragons.

Johnson’s points came on a driving reverse layup with 9 seconds left in double overtime which gave the Cowboys a hard-earned 57-55 victory.

“It was a good win for our kids,” said first-year coach Bernard Bolha. “This was a good example of us working hard to overcome the things that we are doing wrong and watching it pay off.

“I’m just happy that the kids were able to keep their composure — I guess you could say three times — and get a victory.”

Bohla, who has been a head basketball coach in the past for the Chaney and Howland boys’ teams, said that a moment of confident eye contact during a timeout was the reason that Bohla put the ball in Johnson’s hands at the end.

“I saw that look and I told her to go to the hole,” Bohla said of the game-winning points. “I thought she was going to pull it out because it looked like she was in trouble but she drove the baseline and did a reverse layup for the points.”

Johnson said the effort was for her teammates.

“I just felt like I had to do it for the team,” said the senior point guard who spent much of the game directing traffic and playing good defense. “We struggled at the beginning of the game but we just put it together at the end and I happened to be the one to make the basket and get us our first win.”

The back-and-forth contest saw both teams have chances to pull out the game in regulation and in the first overtime before Johnson’s heroics in the second extra session.

At the end of regulation, Niles had the ball with the score tied at 44-44 but turned it over with 20 seconds left.

Chaney had two chances to win on shot attempts by Taylor Carter and Maujanette Feagins but both fell off the mark.

In the first overtime, Niles opened up a four-point lead on free throws by Rachel Sussman and Megan McDermott.

Sussman led all scorers in the game with 31 points. The junior also pulled down an impressive 12 rebounds.

Chaney battled back to a 53-50 deficit before Jasmen Henry came off the bench to knock in a long 3-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer.

“Even though we lost in the manner that we did, I was so proud of the way our girls battled to the end,” said Niles coach Eric Marino. “Just to play this way and have the opportunity to win at the end was great for our program.

“We’ve been struggling with a young team but I’m happy with the way we played tonight.

The two teams were both starting young players, including freshmen and sophomores, and the play was sloppy early on before the teams settled into a good second half of action.

Neither team shot the ball very well from the field and Niles kept the game close by making 29 of 44 free throws.

LaNiece McRae, who fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter, scored 11 points to lead Chaney while Carter added nine points and pulled down 14 rebounds.

McDermott scored 11 points for the Red Dragons.