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Harrisburg Tournament

Early shooting woes cost Harrisburg girls in third-place game

Justin Addison, Editor/Publisher
Posted 1/31/21

The Harrisburg girls lost a heartbreaker, 49-46, to Class 4 Fulton in the third-place game of their own tournament Saturday afternoon.

Tied at 45 apiece with 1:39 left to play, Fulton jumped …

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Harrisburg Tournament

Early shooting woes cost Harrisburg girls in third-place game

Posted

The Harrisburg girls lost a heartbreaker, 49-46, to Class 4 Fulton in the third-place game of their own tournament Saturday afternoon.

Tied at 45 apiece with 1:39 left to play, Fulton jumped ahead by two and knocked down the front end of a 1-and-1 at the free-throw line to lead 48-45 with just over a minute on the clock. Harrisburg made a steal and senior Olivia Fischer drew a foul with 52 seconds left. She hit the first of a pair of free-throw attempts to keep the game within reach. But Fulton was able to keep possession of the ball and made it a three-point contest with a free throw by Alex Trowbridge. The Fulton junior made a steal with five seconds remaining to secure the win for the Hornets.

Despite a close finish, Harrisburg had to fight its way back after trailing by as much as 13 points in the third quarter. The Bulldogs were able to get off a slew of shots in the first half, but couldn’t find a way to make them fall. Their first field goal didn’t drop until the 25-second mark at the end of the first quarter.

Harrisburg stayed alive from the free-throw line, going 4-for-4 in the second quarter and grinding it out before finally heating up offensively from the field. With 2:56 remaining in the first half. Senior Hailey Emanuel sank a 3-pointer to jump-start the offense.

But for every shot Harrisburg made, Fulton had the answer. A 3-pointer by freshman Kier Henderson with seven seconds left put the Hornets ahead 26-16 at halftime.

“We dug ourselves too deep of a hole,” said Harrisburg coach Ryan Richardson. “We rely on getting off to a good start, we just ran out of time.”

The Bulldogs turned up the heat and played scrappy defense in the second half. After getting behind by 13 midway through the third quarter, the defense didn’t allow another Fulton basket for nearly five minutes. Harrisburg trailed by just four points heading into the final frame.

“We definitely dominated the second half. We just ran out of time, but it was our fault to put ourselves in that spot,” said Richardson.

“We went to a run-and-jump style. It’s an exciting style of basketball but it’s really hard to live in it the whole game. It’s a huge gamble to do that. Once (Fulton) was able to figure it out they were able to hit some people on the backside.”

Senior Baylie Combs led the Bulldogs with 19 points and finished 7-for-9 from the free-throw line. Sophomores Brecca Thornhill and Carli Ellis each finished with seven points and Fischer had six. Emanuel sank two 3-pointers for six points on the night.

Combs and Ellis were both named to the All-Tournament team.

Harrisburg was coming off of a 50-29 loss at the hands of Centralia on Thursday. The Bulldogs won their opening game 42-39 against Tolton on Tuesday. They spring back into Lewis & Clark Conference action on Wednesday for a road game at Paris.

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