Technical free throw ends it: BHS 49 Lady Ads 48
BEARDEN — It was an ending to a basketball game that, arguably, could happen only between rivals such as Bearden and Farragut.
Friday night, Jan. 17, at Bearden High School, an extraordinary series of plays — all in the last half minute of the game — helped the Lady Bulldogs pull off a wild 49-48 win. The finish was worthy of the schools’ long rivalry.
With the score tied at 45, Lady Admirals sophomore post Trinity Curry hit a lay-up to give Farragut a two-point lead with 24 seconds left.
After a Bearden timeout, the Lady Dawgs inbounded the ball and threw it to Emma Rainey, who promptly drained a three to give Bearden a one-point lead, 48-47, with 10 seconds to go.
In the mad scramble to get back up the court to try to win it, FHS senior guard Jaci Neubert missed a shot but got the loose ball back. She threw up a wild shot with under a second left as she hit the floor.
The shot missed, but a foul was called, bringing two free throws. When Neubert got up, there was blood on her leg.
The referees decided that a different player had to shoot the free throws, presumably because it was taking too long to tend to Neubert. The clock read zero seconds.
Three tenths of a second was put back on the clock. Gabby VanAcker, sophomore wing, missed the first free throw, but made the second, tying the game at 48 and sending it into overtime.
Only it didn’t.
After VanAcker’s tying free throw, several Farragut players came off the bench in excitement, apparently thinking regulation was over. Leaving the bench while play is still going on — three tenths of a second remained on the clock — can bring a technical, and it did.
BHS’s Natalya Hodge shot the two free throws, missing the first but hitting the second and winning the game.
“When VanAcker made the free throw they had players run on the floor, leaving the bench area,” Bearden head coach Justin Underwood said. “That was the gist of it; that’s a tough situation. … It’s a natural reaction.”
“I’ve always been explained technicals but I wasn’t given an explanation,” FHS head coach Jason Mayfield said.
“That was another thing,” he added in reference to VanAcker shooting for Neubert. “I asked the question about how long we got. We were trying to work on her and all of a sudden I was told I had to sub.”
The game was scrappy and tight throughout. The Lady Admirals led 12-10 after one period and 19-12 with 3:36 left in the half. A 9-2 run to finish the half by BHS knotted the score at 21 by halftime.
Neubert’s three with 14 seconds left in the third period made it 35-34 Bearden after three. Five times the lead changed hands in the dramatic fourth period, setting up the incredible finish.
“Nat (Hodge) didn’t have anything and she found me, and I just had the confidence to shoot it,” Rainey, a junior guard, said. “It just worked out.”
Hodge, a junior point guard, led all scorers with 21; Rainey added 11. Curry was high for FHS with 15; KJ McNealy scored 14.
The Lady Bulldogs stayed perfect in District 4-4A at 5-0, 20-3 overall. Farragut fell to 2-1 in district, 14-7 overall.
“It’s tough to end like this,” Mayfield said. “I told the girls we could avoid an ending like that if we could do a better job of taking care of the ball.”
