RETSOF— The York Lady Knights defeated the Geneseo Lady Blue Devils tonight in overtime. This was an intense game of well-played defense on both teams. The final score was 33-31.
The first 6 points of the game tonight for York were scored by Danielle Perry. The Golden Knight freshmen stepped up this game to help out her team, due to Katelyn Venable’s knee injury.
“We were short tonight with Katelyn Venable’s knee injury, taking 10 points and 10 rebound out of our line up. We had to fill that in with our freshmen Danni Perry.” head coach Tom Sherwood said.
At the end of the first half Anna Miskell for the Blue Devils hit a three point shot giving Geneseo their first lead of the game. They ended the half up 14-12.
By the end of the third quarter, Geneseo was up 25-18. They played excellent defense. Aubrie Johnsen for Geneseo had 18 points against the Knights, a majority scored in the third quarter.
York stepped up their game in the fourth, Alex Shepard had two back to back steals and lay ups that gave York the lead with only a minute left in the fourth, 27-25.
Kiara Torres for the Knights shot a long three with 10 seconds left in the game that just barely rattled out to prevent the Lady Knights from taking the lead.
Johnsen for the Blue Devils also had a chance to take a lead. She shot a jumper from the foul line that was just short bringing this rivalry game into a 4 minute overtime, tied 29-29.
The Lady Knights used a man-to-man press earlier this year against the Blue Devils, tonight they mixed it up with a 2-2-1.
“We have worked hard at pressing, at different times throughout the year we have used it and we have had success with it.” Sherwood said.
York came in hot at the start of the overtime. Danielle Perry scored a base line jumper to bring the score 31-29 York winning with 3 minutes left in the game.
Naomi Prentice was fouled; she makes both and brings York to a four point lead with a little less than two minutes left in the game.
Geneseo came back and scored a bucket, but couldn’t get another one to drop. With 10 seconds left, York regained possession of the ball and won the game 33-31.
“This game had a lot of implications,” York’s head coach said in response to tonight’s game. “One is, we couldn’t win our division this year…but we wanted sole possession of second place and until this game we could have tied with Geneseo and Mt Morris. Even though we are 13-5 we are the 7th seed in our sectional bracket which gives us a home game. We play Geneseo again on Saturday as a result of this. They are a tough team, we were nervous. They are big and their guards move the ball well.”
You can bet it is going to be a close game this Saturday for the Lady Knights and Devils for both teams’ first round of sectionals.