By Ted Waddell
HANCOCK — January 16, 2004 – It was a nip and tuck basketball game right down the stretch to the free-throw finish line.
On Wednesday evening, the host Lady Falcons of The Family School battled the Eldred Lady Yellowjackets to a 22-22 halftime tie. But in the final two quarters, the Lady Falcons edged Eldred by 10-2 and 17-13 margins, respectively, to rack up a 49-43 win.
With 30 seconds remaining on the game clock, the Lady Falcons iced the game at the free-throw line.
Facing one-and-one situations, three shooters made the first shot but missed the second. Jenna Schoenwolf converted her first foul shot at :30 to put The Family School up 47-43; at :22, Jenn Cole made it a 48-43 contest by swishing one free throw; and with eight seconds left, Joanna Heretick closed out the scoring at 49-43.
The Family School (6-2, 1-2 OCIAA) placed a trio of double digit hoopsters in the scorebook. Heretick had a team-high 14 points, while Dee Gill and Mary Sherrin each netted 12 points.
The game’s high scorer was Eldred’s Lauren Timan, who finished with 23 points. Junior forward Jessica Cherry reached double figure territory with 10 points.
Stats from the free throw line: Family School 10-of-18 (56 percent); ECS 11-of-13 (85 percent).
“It was a nice, close one, but it’s hard to play in this gym,” said Eldred Coach Frank Kean.
“His team played a good, aggressive game and deserved to win,” added Kean, referring to Family School Coach Carlton Williams.
Kean also noted that Timan “was sick as can be, but came out and gave it her all” on the way to scoring those 23 points for Eldred (1-5, 0-2 OCIAA).
Williams said the game was “exciting because it kept going back and forth . . . nobody gave up.”
“We worked on the two-two-one full-court press last week in practice, and we forced a lot of turnovers, but the downside was we didn’t score on many of them,” he explained.
“We disrupted them a lot, so it was a good win.”