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Local Sports from The CourierSaturday, November 24, 2012Girls Basketball: Hardesty lay-in makes FHS a 52-50 winner in openersTAFF WRITER Findlay High's girls basketball team was far from perfect Friday night. But for one final-seconds-game-on-the-line play, the Trojans were flawless. Abby Smarkel inbounded the ball to Christina McQueen, McQueen passed to Nicole Muehl near midcourt, Muehl turned and bounce-passed to Jacey Hardesty streaking toward the basket and Hardesty hit the game-winning lay-in with 1.4 seconds left as Findlay nipped Anthony Wayne 52-50 in the 2012-13 season opener for both schools. "The ironic thing is we were actually trying to do that multiple times in the last three or four minutes, but just didn't execute right," said FHS coach Connie Lyon. "That time, the girls maintained their focus and finished it out." Findlay's final play capped a roller-coaster fourth quarter that had four lead changes. Good defense and driving lay-ins from Muehl and Stanfield allowed Findlay to turn a 36-35 deficit into a 39-36 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Trojans led 41-38 when McQueen converted an offensive rebound, 44-40 after the 6-foot-3 senior scored off a nice feed from Muehl, was fouled and completed a 3-point play with 3:03 left, and 47-44 after Hardesty and Anthony Wayne's Raechel McKay traded 3-pointers. Findlay then fell victim to the kind of mistakes that cost the Trojans earlier in the game: turnovers, fouls, poor rebounding. After McKay's two free throws trimmed the deficit to 47-46 with 2:16 to play, Findlay committed two straight turnovers on bad passes. Sara Zankl cashed in on both miscues, put back her miss to put Anthony Wayne up 48-47, then hit two free throws after getting another rebound to make it 50-47 with 49 seconds on the clock. Muehl's free throw got Findlay within a basket with 40.3 to play. Muehl missed the second shot, but Stanfield hustled to get the rebound, McQueen eventually scored on a putback, and it was tied 50-50. Anthony Wayne's Jasmine Bonivel looked to hit a game-winner, but McQueen blocked the shot. McQueen and Bonivel both latched onto the rebound and there was a held ball. The possession arrow favored the Trojans and with 7.9 seconds on the clock, Findlay took possession for its end-to-end run game-winner by Hardesty, who re-entered the game when starting point guard Zoe Swisher fouled out with 49.4 seconds left. "It was our first game, we were playing a very good team and we made some mistakes," Lyon said. "We had some issues, like turnovers and rebounding. And offensively, I'm not sure what we did tonight but it was definitely not what we've been working on. Freelancing would be a good word for it, but that's okay. This is a different group of players that's still learning to play together. And to be able to come out on your home floor in your first game and be able to pull one out like that, that's got to help their confidence." Muehl led Findlay with 15 points. Stanfield had 13 points and nine rebounds and McQueen 10 points and eight boards. McQueen and Stanfield both had seven rebounds in the second half when Findlay outworked Anthony Wayne 20-14 on the glass. Defensively, Findlay did a better job of cooling off an Anthony Wayne fire brigade that threatened to torch the building in the first quarter. Findlay made its first six shots, but the lead changed hands on six straight possessions because the Generals were just as hot. Lighting the fuse was junior guard Megan Bedard, who was 3-for-3 an 3-pointers from deep in the right corner. Bedard led the Generals with 13 points, but had 11 in the first quarter. Findlay's junior varsity also had a successful opening night, rallying from a 32-29 deficit with three minutes left to beat Anthony Wayne 40-32. Nola Jackson had 13 points, Sarah Thomas seven and Sarah Smarkel six. anthony wayne (0-1) McKay 1-5 5-6 8, Bonivel 4-12 0-0 8, Bedard 4-11 2-2 13, Venglarcik 1-3 2-2 4, Zankl 2-9 4-4 8, Cardinal 2-3 0-0 5, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Krieg 2-4 0-1 4, Hood 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16-47 13-14--50. findlay (1-0) Swisher 2-3 0-0 4, Muehl 6-11 2-3 15, A. Smarkel 1-4 0-0 2, McQueen 4-8 2-5 10, Stanfield 6-10 1-2 13, Hardesty 3-7 0-0 8, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Bendt 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 22-45 4-10--52. Anthony Wayne 22 8 6 14 -- 50 Findlay 19 7 9 17 -- 52 3-Point GOALS: Anthony Wayne 5-11 (Cardinal 1-2, McKay 1-2, Bonivel 0-1, Bedard 3-6); Findlay 3-10 (Swisher 0-1, Bendt 0-1, Muehl 1-2, Hardesty 2-6). rebounds: Anthony Wayne 28 (Zankl 8, Bonivel 7); Findlay 31 (Stanfield 9, McQueen 8). turnovers: Anthony Wayne 13, Findlay 17. JUNIOR VARSITY: Findlay, 40-32. Hanneman: 419-427-8408, davehanneman@thecourier.com Subscribe to The Courier. |
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