Eagles escape with overtime win over Eels

CLAY CITY – Over the last few years, when Clay City’s girls’ basketball team lost, it was typically by double figures.

But this season, with a roster full of players with multiple years of experience playing at the varsity level, that’s changed.

It’s allowed them to play teams as close as possible.

Unfortunately, that’s also led to some heartbreaking losses, which was the case again against South Putnam Tuesday.

Clay City overcame a nine-point deficit to send the game into overtime only to fall 52-48, marking the fifth loss of the season for the Eels that’s been decided by seven points or fewer.

Afterwards, Clay City head coach Jason Sinders said in each of the losses, including to South Putnam, there are long stretches in which his team struggles on both ends of the floor. And by the time they get it figured it, they’ve dug themselves a hole too deep to get out of.

“They’re going to have to make a decision about whether or not they want to play a full game. That’s what it amounts to,” said Sinders. “It just is what it is. You can’t start games off like this. I can’t falter their effort late, but we can’t start off by not talking and not moving because the next thing you know, you’re in a situation that we were in.”

The segment of the game Sinders pointed to Tuesday was in the second quarter when the Eels went nearly three minutes without scoring.

South Putnam took advantage by flipping a one-point deficit into a nine-point lead with a game-altering 10-0 run.

But as has been the case throughout the season, Clay City battled back in the second half, specifically in the fourth quarter, to make things interesting down the stretch.

Sinders credited the length and athleticism of his group for getting back into the game.

“We started using our length a little bit more,” stated Sinders. “We’re very long, which allows us to do some stuff.”

Clay City never led in the fourth quarter, but the play of Shaylee Evans, Macy Tucker and Kailyn Kirkling allowed the Eels to go back and forth with South Putnam senior Kelsey Custis, who scored seven of the Eagles’ 10 fourth-quarter points.

“As a senior, she’s been big for us all year. It’s a young group, so she’s that steadying force that does a lot of good things for us. She was that one with the ball that was like, ‘I’m going to go get it.’ That’s because she’s been in games and gets that. Her attitude and her ability to go after it was key for us,” South Putnam head coach Brian Gardner said about Custis, who recorded a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double.

South Putnam’s Joscelyn Pilcher snapped Custis’ seven-consecutive point stretch with a 3-pointer with 1:01 on the clock, giving the guests a three-point advantage.

That was until the 22-second mark of regulation when Kirkling knocked in the game-tying shot from downtown that sent the game into overtime.

In the extra period, South Putnam ratcheted up its defense, holding Clay City to 1-of-8 shooting from the field.

Gardner said the game plan was the same as it was throughout the entire night – put pressure on the Eels in the backcourt and then clog the lane with a 2-3 zone while keeping a watchful eye on Evans, who scored a game-high 15 points, around the perimeter.

“The biggest thing was with the action that we were running, we wanted to keep the ball in front of us. And then in the halfcourt, we were really trying to make sure where (Evans) was and get a hand up. We were kind of in a zone, but we were also matching up out of it to try to get them where they weren’t able to cut as well,” said Gardner. “I thought we did a really good job, especially with it being a young team, of picking that up on the fly.”

Clay City, which was without starters Tucker (fouled out) and Abbi Jo Grupe (ankle injury) as well as Lizzy Sinders (knee injury), was held to just two points in the four-minute overtime. That was doubled at the foul line by Pilcher, who went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe to clinch the win.

SOUTH PUTNAM (52) — Custis 5-10 1-2 13, Cline 4-6 1-2 10, Pistelli 3-12 0-2 7, Pilcher 2-10 4-4 9, Gardner 2-5 0-0 4, Emmerich 2-4 0-0 6, Dooley 1-2 0-0 3, Jeter 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 19-49 FG, 6-10 FT, 52 TP.

CLAY CITY (48) — Tucker 4-11 1-2 11, Kirkling 3-13 2-4 10, Evans 5-14 1-2 15, Grupe 0-4 1-2 1, Koehler 3-12 1-2 7, Shearer 0-1 0-0 0, Sinders 0-0 0-0 0, Schauwecker 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 2-2 0-0 4, Crabb 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS 17-49 FG, 6-12 FT, 48 TP.

3-point shooting — SP 8-23 (Custis 2-4, Cline 1-2, Pistelli 1-6, Pilcher 1-6, Emmerich 2-4, Dooley 1-1), Clay City 8-25 (Tucker 2-6, Kirkling 2-7, Evans 4-10, Koehler 0-4, Schauwecker 0-1, Crabb 0-1). Rebounds — SP 34 (Custis 10, Pistelli, Gardner 7), Clay City 26 (Tucker 7, Kirkling, Evans 5). Turnovers — SP 19, Clay City 14. Total fouls — SP 8, Clay City 12. Fouled out — Tucker.