United holds off Tigers in fourth

By John Kovach

The Golden Eagles stayed tied with Crestview atop the ITCL Tier One standings.

NEW MIDDLETOWN — There were two lessons to be learned in the United-Springfield girls basketball game Monday night.

United learned that even with a 16-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the win is not assured and the game is not over.

Springfield learned anything can happen in about the final six minutes of a game if a team perseveres.

And in fact the Tigers didn’t quit and reeled off 11 unanswered points and eventually rallied to within 56-52 with 1:35 left, before United pulled away to a 63-54 win to remain tied with Crestview for first place in the Inter Tri-County League Tier One.

Ruth Prosko, a 5-foot-9 freshman, scored a goal and foul shot with 59.6 seconds left to push United to safety with a 59-52 lead.

And after Andria Lyons, a 5-5 junior for Springfield, countered with a pair of free throws with 40.4 seconds remaining, Maggie Miller, a 5-5 senior, hit a goal and Hillary Hoppel, a 5-5 junior, added two foul shots, to seal the Golden Eagles’ win.

Maggie Sell, a 5-5 senior, led United with 15 points, including two 3-point goals, while Miller and Prosko finished with 11 point each and Miller also with three treys. United made eight 3-point baskets.

Lyons led Springfield with 18 points, including four of the Tigers’ 11 comeback points and seven of their 18 in the final quarter, while Rachael Kennedy, a 6-0 senior, had 15 points, including five in the last quarter, and eight rebounds while Ashley David had seven rebounds.

The Tigers managed to stay close with United in the first half and into the third quarter, and in fact took a 33-32 lead in the third,

But the Golden Eagles streaked to a 21-5 scoring advantage, led by Sell’s 11 points, to take a 53-37 lead before the Tigers rallied to make a game of it.

Springfield was in the thick of the battle early when it was able to penetrate to the hoop and get the ball to Kennedy underneath.

“We switched defenses. We packed it in [on the inside]. We wanted to stop Kennedy,” said United (17-1, 11-1) coach Roger Zeigler, of the strategy that hampered Springfield’s offense early.

And, “We were shooting and making our shots from the outside.”

Then later, “[Springfield] started making their shots and we started missing and we became apprehensive.”

Also, “Maggie Miller got three fouls in the first quarter and we sat her out until the fourth quarter. Rachael Sell did a good job on defense replacing Miller,” added Zeigler, noting that his team defeated Springfield earlier in the season by 17 points.

Coach Sandi Kohler of Springfield (9-10, 6-7) agreed with Zeigler that “they were trying to take [Kennedy] out of the game by sagging back on defense.”

But Kohler lauded her team’s comeback, noting that “this is one of my most enjoyable teams. They could have buckled but didn’t. We have been behind in other games and the team didn’t buckle.”

She said that “turnovers at key times spoiled her team’s rally against United,” but that, “We came back. The kids didn’t quit.”

kovach@vindy.com