Lakes savors victory over Antioch
After one quarter, Antioch's girls hoops team was on pace to paste rival Lakes 84-20. Yes, the Sequoits were up 21-5 heading to the second quarter.
By halftime, that enormous lead was down to 33-22. Heading to the fourth, it was a single basket at 40-38.
No one moved from their seats as this game went down to final seconds Saturday at Lake Forest.
Only when Ashley Reiser's long heave hit the front of the rim did Lakes finally celebrate a rare win over the Sequoits, 61-58.
No doubt this stunning comeback in Lake Forest's Martin Luther King tournament would not have been made without the sterling 3-point shooting of Lakes junior Natalie Iacopetti. On her fifth 3-pointer of the game, the Eagles (13-7) had seemingly completed their comeback and led 55-48. There were two and half minutes to play in the game.
"She's a shooter," Lakes guard Ellie Haviland said of Iacopetti.
However, the Sequoits (18-3) weren't finished playing. Alexis Duehr drilled her fifth and final 3-pointer of the game, and that seemingly woke up her teammate Reiser. In the final minute, Reiser nailed three 3-pointers to pull her team within a single point. On the last of her 3-pointers, it appeared she didn't even look at the basket.
Most everyone in the gym held their breath as Reiser got the ball with 2.5 seconds to play and let go with a half-court shot that just missed.
Lakes coach Brian Phelan was floored by the comeback and knew full well that the Sequoits were competing without two key players.
"The last time we played them, they drilled us 18-4 and we never recovered," Phelan said. "I know they are depleted. They are such a good team. Both teams competed today."
Antioch starters Amy Reiser (back) and Kelly Johnson (illness) both missed the game.
That first-quarter blitz repeated in this game. Duehr opened the game with consecutive 3-pointers. The Sequoits scored 8 field goals in the opening quarter and five of those were from 3-point range. When Maddy Murillo scored to open the second quarter following a gorgeous pass from Reiser, the Sequoits looked ready to blow the Eagles right out of gym up, 23-5.
Haviland's 3-pointer helped Lakes in the second quarter. She scored 9 of her 15 points in the second quarter. She also added 6 rebounds.
"We regrouped," Haviland said. "We just didn't come out with much energy to start the game."
Duehr opened the third quarter with yet another 3-pointer. However, the Sequoits scored only one more bucket before the quarter ended. In the meantime, Iacopetti was just getting warmed up. She had half of her team's points in the quarter as the Eagles pulled closer.
"We knew we could play like this," Iacopetti said. "We just started out slowly. We moved the ball around really well."
Iacopetti scored the last point of the game from the free throw line and finished with 22 points. Antioch's Erika Gallimore and Duehr shared scoring honors with 17 points. Gallimore also had 10 rebounds, giving her a double-double. Reiser's late rush gave her 12 points.