Liberty earns a date in district semifinal

February 24, 2019 at 12:00a.m.

Fourth-seeded Columbiana ousted

COLUMBIANA

Liberty sophomore Nysa Gilchrist calmly sank two free throws with 36 seconds remaining to help lift the No. 5 seeded Leopards to a 61-59 victory over No.4 seed Columbiana.

“No doubt, these were the two biggest free throws that I’ve ever made,” said Gilchrist after Saturday’s sectional championship game at Columbiana High School.

“The only thing I was thinking about was focus completely, relax and just do it,” said Gilchrist, who finished five points, all in the final quarter. “We lost our focus in the third quarter but got it back in the fourth. Today’s loser goes home. We just weren’t ready for our season to end.”

Sharda Williamson had a team-high 18 points for the Leopards (14-10) and Delia Watson 12.

The Leopards have won two consecutive tournament games — they defeated Campbell 84-22 on Wednesday.

Next, Liberty will face No. 1 seed Salem on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Struthers Fieldhouse.

“We knew they were very athletic,” Columbiana head coach Dave Crismon said. “We dug an early hole today and I felt like we were outplayed in the first quarter.”

Williamson’s nine points in the opening quarter staked the Leopards to a 16-6 advantage. The Leopards took 24 shots in the first quarter and stifled the Clippers’ offense. Columbiana made two of 10 shots to open the game.

“The gameplan was to play them tough defensively and that‘s what we did to start the game,” Williamson said. “Defense wins games.”

Six points by Duncan and five from Williams in the second quarter helped Liberty open a 33-23 edge heading to the locker room.

“We hit a bit of a lull to start the second half but were able to get our energy level back up in the fourth quarter when we needed it most.”

The Clippers (17-6) were anything but flat after halftime, going on an 18-4 run to take a 41-37 lead. “I was proud of the way that we fought back,” said Crismon, who replaced Ron Moschella after the 2017-18 season. “We didn’t quit and that has been our mantra all season long.”

The Clippers made eight of 17 shots to take a 41-37 lead.

“Columbiana is an excellent all-around team,” Watson said. “They’re fast and can shoot so we knew that we couldn’t leave them open. We had to limit our mistakes in the final quarter if we expected to win.”

A conventional three-point play by Gilchrist gave Liberty a 50-46 lead,

Columbiana’s Kennedy Fullum sank a bucket in the lane with 1:27 remaining to give the Clippers their last lead, 59-58.

The first of two free throw attempts by Watson with 42 seconds remaining knotted the game at 59-59, setting up Gilchrist’s heroics six seconds later.

“I talked to the team all year about mental toughness and told them not to lose their composure,” Liberty head coach Delia Watson said. “You have two options.

“You can sink or excel and today I was proud of the way they excelled with the game on the line. We’re coming together and peaking at the right time.”

Kayla Muslovski had a game-high 19 points for Columbiana. Fullum added 16 points, Grace Hammond 14 and Tori Long 10 for the Clippers.

“You cannot sum up a season in one game,” Crismon said. “Our seniors have a great legacy.”