SHORELINE
The Shorewood Thunderbirds’ shot at victory fell short as fate reared its nasty head.
Tied at 46 in the final minute Friday night against WesCo South foe Mountlake Terrace, the T-birds seemed destined for overtime.
Mindy James of the visiting Hawks managed to find the basket with seven ticks on the clock and the home crowd sat in stunned disbelief.
It appeared that one of the three officials blew his whistle before the shot, thus negating the winning basket.
But, instead of James taking any free throws after an apparent foul, the shot was counted, and Shorewood got the ball with controversy hanging in the air.
The 48-46 league loss dropped the T-birds to 1-10 in WesCo South play and 2-11 overall.
“That’s a tough one to take,” Shorewood coach Nina Lowe said. “We had open looks and had at least two lay-ins that circled around the rim, but we just can’t seem to catch a break.”
Lowe grabbed a video camera from a T-birds fan that had recorded the game and watched replays of the controversial final call, but she said she was unable to hear the whistle in the recording.
The T-Birds managed to get the ball up court quickly in the last seven seconds, but their final shot attempts fell short.
While Shorewood may stew over whether or not the referee’s whistle may have negated the winning basket, the T-birds had a number of shots in the final minutes that continued to fall short.
“My girls stopped because they thought the play had been blown dead, but I guess that wasn’t the case,” Lowe said. This is a really frustrating feeling, especially with the controversy at the end. I have some years on these girls and it’s probably equally frustrating to me as it is to the girls. We still have seven games to go, and need to keep our heads up.”
James led all scorers with 21 points in the league battle.
Five-foot-nine T-birds senior Becky Farden paced the home team with 14 points. Farden and James were the only two players in double figures on the night.
Farden also led Shorewood (20 points) in their 52-44 victory Dec. 13 on the Hawks’ home court.
The T-birds converted 18-for-23 from the charity stripe after beginning the contest a perfect 6-for-6.
The close finish was fitting as the league contest featured a number of ties and lead changes that spanned all four quarters.
Mountlake Terrace jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but the T-birds rallied and took a 14-13 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
After turnovers plagued both teams in the first three minutes of the second quarter, the Hawks ended up outscoring Shorewood 10-6 to take a 23-20 lead into the locker room.
Both teams struggled offensively in the third quarter with turnovers, missed shots and scrappy play.
The Hawks expanded their lead to five at 25-20, but Shorewood evened things up at 27 with 2:56 remaining in the quarter.
After tying the score at 29, Mountlake Terrace went up by four points before the T-birds knotted the score at 34 entering the final frame.
The fourth quarter featured four more ties and a number of lead changes.
As the Shorewood pep band chanted “de-fense” and heckled the Hawks during free throw attempts, overtime seemed inevitable.
A fan seated about ten rows behind the T-birds bench was ejected after being pointed out by one of the referees, apparently after reacting to a controversial call.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
