3-pointer at buzzer stuns Westminster
Midway through the third quarter, Westminster Christian was sailing along with a 7 point lead over Seton Academy at Thursday’s Class 1A Willows Academy girls basketball sectional final in Des Plaines.
Two minutes and change later the Warriors trailed by 7, and they couldn’t recover.
After watching Seton use a 16-2 run to take the lead, Westminster fought back in the fourth quarter and tied the game in the final seconds only to fall victim to a heartbreaking, buzzer-beating game winning shot.
Seton senior Brittany Mitchell nailed a long 3-pointer as time expired to give the Sting a 45-42 win. Seton Academy advances to Monday’s DeKalb supersectional.
“Ten or twenty years from now, we’ll probably bring our kids back to our school and show them our regional championship plaque, and tell them how we made history,” said Westminster senior center Porsche Griggs. “But right now, it hurts.”
“I had a feeling that the last team to have the ball was going to win tonight,” added Warriors coach Ken Flickinger, who guided the team to the program’s deepest postseason advancement in school history.
“It was that kind of game.”
Behind the play of Griggs (8 points, 8 rebounds), sophomore forward Claire Speweik (8 points) and sophomore guard McKaila Hays (team-high 14 points), Westminster led 26-19 — but a Jeremy Lin-like performance from Mitchell brought Seton back.
Mitchell hit 3 3-point baskets and made a 4-point play in the space of two minutes in the third, and just like that the Sting led 35-28.
“Their quickness hurt us all night,” said Flickinger, “and sometimes I think we were rushing and taking shots too soon — and we made a few more turnovers than I would have liked.”
Westminster (22-9) trailed 42-40 with 15 seconds remaining when Hays, under pressure, drove the length of the floor and sank a layup to tie the game.
Then Seton rushed the ball downcourt and with the packed house roaring, Mitchell sank the long, arching 3-pointer for the win.
“We kept fighting back and fighting back,” said Westminster senior guard Whitney Vanden Bos (5 points). “It hurts to lose like that, but we never gave up. We have to remember that we gave our school its first girls regional championship in any sport, and that was a great accomplishment. I don’t think anybody thought we would be this good this year.”
And what was the reaction of Mitchell, who scored a game-high 20 points and was still shaking after canning her first game-winning shot on the season’s biggest stage.
“Unbelievable,” said the senior. “I don’t even know what to say right now. I didn’t expect to do this. I was so nervous. I just wanted it to go in.”