Olpe girls stunned by Wheatland-Grinnell in overtime, 58-55
Diane Gasper-O'Brien, Special to the Gazette
Friday, March 7, 2008
Steven Hausler/Hays Daily News
Wheatland-Grinnell's Stacy Schuster (4) defends Olpe's Jill Cole (13) during Thursday's first-round game of the Class 1A State Tournament at Gross Coliseum in Hays. Wheatland-Grinnell upset top-seeded Olpe, 58-55, in overtime.
HAYS — The first loss of the season always hurts.
But for the Olpe girls, Thursday’s defeat in the first round of the Class 1A State Basketball Tournament cut to the core.
The Eagles, again seeded first in the tournament with a 25-0 record, were upset, 58-55, in overtime by eighth-seeded Wheatland-Grinnell.
It gave Olpe its first loss of the season at the State Tournament for the second straight year. Only this time, it also sent the Eagles home early from the season finale. Olpe also entered last year’s State Tournament undefeated before falling in the semifinals and going on to finish third.
This year, there will be no celebrating on Saturday in Gross Memorial Coliseum, though, except possibly for the Olpe boys team.
Olpe’s boys won their first-round game Wednesday and are scheduled to play in today’s 4:45 p.m. semifinals vs. Hanover.
Wheatland-Grinnell made sure Olpe would not be one of the schools that would watch both their boys and girls teams play on Saturday.
Olpe came back from nine points down in the fourth quarter to force the overtime after a 3-pointer from the top of the key by freshman Kathryn Flott made it 53-53 at the end of regulation.
But it was a pair of seniors for Wheatland-Grinnell that took control in the extra period.
Steven Hausler/Hays Daily News
Olpe’s Erica Brinkman (32) passes the ball to teammate Angela Bartley (24) as Wheatland-Grinnell’s Meagan Weaver (10) defends the paint during Thursday’s first-round game of the Class 1A State Tournament at Gross Coliseum in Hays. Top-seeded Olpe lost to Wheatland-Grinnell, 58-55, in overtime.
With Olpe leading by two, 55-53, Wheatland-Grinnell’s Meagan Weaver and Stacy Schuster scored the next five points of the extra period to give the Lady Thunderhawks the victory.
Weaver scored a game-high 25 points, including nine of her team’s 11 points in the last 4 1/2 minutes in regulation and both of the Lady Thunderhawks’ baskets in overtime. She also dished out five assists.
The first half was tight the whole way, with neither team holding more than a five-point lead.
But Olpe never could seem to get untracked.
The Lady Eagles lost some of their size advantage when 6-foot senior Megan Woods picked up her third foul just a minute and a half after halftime and had to take a seat on the bench.
Woods, who averaged 14 points per game this season, finished with nine in just 17 minutes of play.
“It was big that Megan had to sit,” Olpe coach Jesse Nelson said, “and that Katie (Moyer) didn’t shoot well. She (Moyer) had good looks; they just weren’t falling.”
Moyer, a junior, had more than 90 3-pointers this season, but connected on just 3 of 19 three-point attempts Thursday.
For the Lady Eagles, it will be that 19th attempt that they will remember for a long time.
Down by two, 57-55, with 14.3 seconds left in overtime, Nelson called a timeout to set up a final play, with one of the options being Moyer.
Moyer got the ball deep in the right corner and let loose on a shot from behind the arc.
But Weaver seemed to come out of nowhere to block the shot.
The Lady Thunderhawks’ Schuster came up with the ball, and she was quickly fouled by Flott with 5 seconds left.
Schuster made one of her two free throws to push the lead to three.
Olpe senior Kylie Haag took the inbounds pass and raced the length of the court but couldn’t get off a good shot at the other end as time ran out.
“We just didn’t step on the court ready to play today,” Nelson said. “It was good that we did come back in that fourth quarter. The kids didn’t quit. But we had to expend a lot of energy doing that.”
Flott led Olpe with a double-double, scoring 19 points and pulling down 10 rebounds, while Moyer added 11 points and Haag had six assists. Like Moyer, Haag had a tough night shooting the ball, going just 3-of-13 from the field and finishing with seven points to go along with six rebounds.
The Lady Eagles’ other senior, Erica Brinkman, added six points and five rebounds.
Joining Weaver in double-figure scoring for Wheatland-Grinnell (19-6) were seniors Trisha Tholen and Schuster with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Wheatland-Grinnell 58, Olpe 55, OT
Thursday at Hays
1 2 3 4 OT
WL-Grinnell 11 14 17 11 5 — 58
Olpe 10 13 8 22 2 — 55
Wheatland-Grinnell (19-6) — Schuster 4-7 1-4 13, M. Weaver 10-20 5-6 25, Wolf 2-5 0-0 4, T. Weaver 1-3 0-2 3, Tholen 6-7 0-0 14, Shaw 0-0 l0-0 0, Rathgeber 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-43 6-12 58.
Olpe (25-1) — Haag 3-13 1-2 7, Moyer 4-121 0-0 11, Flott 8-15 2-2 19, Brinkman 2-3 2-2 6, Woods 4-6 1-2 9, Kuhlmann 0-0 0-0 0, Cole 1-3 0-0 3, Bartley 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 6-8 55.
3-point goals — WG 6-9 (Schuster 3-5, T. Weaver 1-2, Tholen 2-2), Olpe 5-21 (Moyer 3-19, Flott 1-1, Cole 1-1). Rebounds — WG 34 (T.Weaver 6), Olpe 30 (Flott 10). Assists — WG 17 (M.Weaver 5), Olpe 12 (Haag 6). Total fouls — WG 10, O 15.
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Posted by iamconcerned (anonymous) on March 7, 2008 at 10:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hats off to the lady eagles on a great season, and remember just because you did not bring home a state title, build on what you did and caary that through your life.
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