Faith Drops Overtime Thriller to Democracy Prep

The Crusaders started off with a basket by Morgan early on to take a 2-0 lead. The Ava Duo took over after that, as Ava W made an excellent hustle play and Ava D displayed really nice footwork to force a steal. Morgan split a pair of free throws and Faith led 3-0 after the first quarter.

Kate made a nice runner in the lane to extend the Crusader lead to 5-0 before DPAC got on the board on a jumper. Ava W and Kate each blocked a shot, Lilly grabbed a key rebound, and Heidi blocked two shots to keep the score 5-2 before a perfect Morgan to Ava W to Heidi pass combination led to Faith's final points of the second quarter, as Heidi made a free throw and Faith led 6-2 at the break.

Faith could not muster any offense in the third stanza and the Blue Knights rallied with a jumper and three free throws to take a 7-6 lead after three quarters. Olivia did have a blocked shot in the third and Ava D made another nice hustle play.

Morgan tallied an early 4th quarter free throw to tie the game and a superb defensive play by Kaelyn kept it tied until a DPAC player made a highly contested turnaround jumper with two sets of hands in her face to take a 9-7 lead with under a minute to play. Faith kept fighting to get a tying basket and with less than six seconds left, after a mad scramble, the ball fell to Kaelyn under the basket with the entire DPAC defense charging at her. She confidently put up the shot and SWISHED it to send the game to overtime and get herself mobbed by her teammates!

The three minute overtime session did not start out great for the Crusaders as DPAC got a quick score to go up 11-9, but a steal by Morgan led to a Kate basket to tie the contest. It stayed that way Ava W split a pair of Blue Knight defenders and then made a nice pass to Heidi, who was fouled going up for a shot. Heidi made one of the two free throws and Faith led 12-11 with 24.5 seconds left.

Faith played some excellent defense on the ensuing DPAC possession and got the ball back. However, DPAC got a steal with around six seconds left and threw a long pass that that was corralled and taken to the basket. The ball rolled on the cylinder for what seemed like an eternity, and eventually dropped in with less than a second left to give the Blue Knights the overtime victory.

It was truly an amazing game, and while we of course would have preferred a different outcome, the team has nothing to hang their heads about. They gave supreme effort for 27 minutes, and nearly defeated a playoff bound DPAC team on their home court, something that is very tough to do. Coach Vee and Coach Keith are nothing but proud of this group, as they grew and developed all season long and played their best game of the season in their final contest.

Each and every one of these young ladies represented themselves, their school, and of course Jesus very well, not only today but all season long. Thank you for everything!