MONTPELIER SENIOR … Trinity Richmire puts up a jumper in the first half versus North Central. Richmire ended the night with 14 points including the game-winning bucket in overtime. (PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
MONTPELIER – Freshman Jada Uribes scored five of Montpelier’s nine points in overtime and senior Trinity Richmire hit the game-winner with 4.8 seconds left to give the Locos their third consecutive BBC crown with a 41-39 win over the Eagles.
The underdog Eagles opened the game in a 2-3 zone which caused problems for the Locos and they were able to jump out a 6-1 lead.
The lead grew to 10-3 after field goals from Madison Brown and Darbi Stewart before the Locos ended the quarter with buckets from Chelsea McCord and Ariel Page to trim the deficit to 10-7.
Richmire would score her first points of the night on a 3-pointer to start the scoring in the second quarter to tie the game 10-10.
North Central answered the 7-0 run by Montpelier with five quick points from Makinzy King as she hit a triple and then scored inside off a nice pass from Kendal Bonney to make it 15-10 with 3:55 left in the half.
Montpelier though responded with another seven straight points starting with Richmire hitting a deep 3-ball from the right wing before a bucket from McCord and a layup from Richmire gave the Locos a 17-15 lead at the break.
A Page basket and then a steal and layup from Kelsie Bumb pushed the lead to 21-15 early in the third quarter leading to a timeout by North Central.
The game of runs continued with the Eagles ripping off seven unanswered points as King scored, Brown hit a trey, and King scored again to give the Eagles the lead back at 22-21.
After a free throw from Richmire tied the game, she would then nail a triple followed by a 3-pointer from Uribes just before the buzzer to cap off a 7-0 run and give the Locos a 28-22 lead heading to the final frame.
A Stewart triple for North Central drew the Eagles to within 28-27 at the 5:10 mark of the fourth before a bucket by Uribes for Montpelier and then an offensive rebound putback by Bonney made it 30-29.
The Eagles were then forced into a scrambling situation on defense and Page would get free for a layup to increase the lead to 32-29 with 8.9 to go.
Following a timeout, Brown brought the ball up the floor and used a high screen from King to get an open look and she buried a triple from the left wing as time expired to tie the game at 32-32.
Uribes scored Montpelier first five points of the extra session and after a layup from Page the lead was 39-34.
The Eagles wouldn’t go away though as Bonney scored inside and following a missed one-and-one by Montpelier it was Brown again with ice water in her veins as she drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game 39-39 with 13.2 to go.
Richmire wasted no time though as she raced the ball down the middle of the floor all the way the to the hoop where she drew a foul and found the bottom of the net to put Montpelier up 41-39 with 4.8 left.
Richmire missed the free throw giving the Eagles one more chance but a desperation triple by Isabelle Burnett was off the mark at the final horn.
“I thought going into the game we had a better roster, but give North Central credit they played hard”, said head coach Mike Bumb after the game.
“They got in that zone (defense) and we didn’t make shots and they did a great job of rebounding the basketball so we didn’t get many second shots.”
“Basketball is funny, they’re not all going to be masterpieces and sometimes you have to grind it out and our kids found a win”, added Bumb.
The teams had almost identical shooting numbers with the Locos going 16/42 (38%) with five triples and Montpelier was 17/42 (40%) with five three-pointers.
North Central (10-9, 4-2 BBC) finished the game with a 31-14 advantage on the boards but were guilty of 22 turnovers compared to 12 for Montpelier.
Richmire led the scoring for Montpelier (19-3, 7-0) with 14 points and Uribes added 10, all after halftime. Brown had 15 and King netted 11 for the Eagles.
Montpelier will open tournament play on February 17th in the Division III sectional semifinals against Liberty Center at Bowling Green High School.
N. CENTRAL 10 5 7 10 7 – 39
MONTPELIER 7 10 11 4 9 – 41
JUNIOR VARSITY: North Central, 12-8
Nate can be reached at sports@thevillagereporter.com