Leave it to a team that starts three freshmen and no seniors to construct an 18-4 run over the final eight minutes of play to steal a surprising win.
That's exactly what the Springfield Catholic Lady Irish (2-10) accomplished on Thursday night – overcoming youth and a late eight-point hole to upset Webb City (5-7) at home by a final of 39-33.
After staring a 29-21 deficit square in the face going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Irish, armed with a varsity roster consisting of six first-year high school players, came alive and proved that you don't need to be rich in experience to be the last team standing at the final buzzer.
“Just because we're young, we played with no fear in that last half,” first-year Catholic head coach Dan Stander said after the win.
And it was Catholic freshman Madison Chittenden who epitomized that fearlessness all evening long, bagging 23 of her squad's 39 points – including nine in the fourth period – to lead the Lady Irish charge.
What makes Chittenden's standout performance even more impressive is the fact that it came on the heels of a substantial battle with the flu earlier in the week, which took her out of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The young forward responded with her best game of the season.
“My hat is off to her,” Stander said of Chittenden's 23-point performance. “She's just done a great job. She just relaxed and played the game of her life.”
Even with the inability to contain Chittenden, the Lady Cardinals still would have likely had the game securely in hand if it weren't for the 26 turnovers they committed.
Turning the ball over seven times in the contest's first six minutes, Webb City set an ominous tone early on – a tone that would ultimately create its downfall in the final eight minutes of play.
“We had some very costly turnovers at crucial times in the game,” said Webb City head coach Lance Robbins. “Some of them were just fumbling the ball and some of them were just silly passes. Hopefully, we'll do a better job.”
Whenever Webb City was able to take care of the basketball in the final quarter, it didn't find much scoring success – due in large part to an adjustment made by Stander to prepare his players for missed shots that caromed beyond the low post and virtually eliminate any opportunities for an offensive rebound.
“That's one thing we did a very good job of,” Stander said. “Instead of staying under the basket like we do in a zone [defense], we went all the way out, checked our shooters and when a long rebound came, we were there.”
After Catholic scored eight of the first nine points to start the fourth and climb within one point of the Lady Cardinals, it was Chittenden once again taking the reigns – collecting a steal and running the length of the floor to convert an easy layup and give her team its first lead of the game with 4:10 remaining.
Shortly after, fans at the O'Reilly Family Athletic Center held their collective breath as Chittenden collided with Webb City's Kaylee Beres at mid-court as both girls scrambled for a loose ball.
Fortunately, Chittenden and Beres were able to walk back to their respective benches on their own power after spending just a brief moment on the ground.
“I'm OK,” Chittenden said after the game, laughing. “It just knocked the wind out of me more than anything.”
Chittenden would quickly re-enter the contest and would combine with sophomore guard Emma Lucas to score the next six points and give Catholic a 37-30 advantage inside a minute to go.
A 3-pointer by sophomore Kaylee Cristy with 2.4 seconds left finally ended a nearly nine-minute field-goal drought by Webb City and increased the Lady Cardinals' fourth-quarter scoring total to just four points.
Two free-throws by Lucas would officially cap the unlikely, but certainly not unearned win for the young Lady Irish.
“We worked our butts off on defense,” added Chittenden. “Our defense really helped us pull off that win. It just felt great.”
Catholic will next face Glendale in the first round of the Rogersville Tournament on Monday, while Webb City faces Chanute (Kan.) in its own Webb City Tournament on Thursday.
Box Score
Webb City – 6 16 7 4 – 33
Catholic – 5 9 7 18 – 39
Webb City – Cami Roy 11, Lexey Kneib 7, Kaylee Cristy 6, Katie Sticklen 4, Kaylee Beres 2, Lindey Kneib 2, Katy Crane 1
Catholic – Madison Chittenden 23, Emma Lucas 13, Jaycee Cabasi 3
