Cavs beat the buzzer

MIDDLE POINT - Coldwater girls basketball coach Keenan Leichty received a round of hugs and congrats from Cavalier faithful outside the locker room Tuesday night.

He was waiting to celebrate with his daughter.

Kate Leichty scored eight of her 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the go-ahead scoop shot with 2.2 seconds which lifted the Cavaliers over Patrick Henry for a 47-46 victory in the Division III sectional opener at Lincolnview High School.

"I haven't told her anything yet," replied coach Leichty when asked what he said to his daughter after the win. "I am proud of her. I'll get with her in a second. I'm just trying to let her enjoy it."

Eighth-seeded Coldwater (10-13) will return to LHS for a matchup with third-seeded Paulding at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday.

It didn't feel like Coldwater was ever going to get over the hump on Tuesday, but Kate Leichty finally got her team over it for good with little time to spare when she went coast-to-coast for the game-winner after a Kayla Prigge free throw had given Patrick Henry a one-point lead with 8.9 seconds remaining.

Leading 43-39 with under two minutes to go, the Patriots missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. Coldwater's Lauren Gilliland then sunk two free throws after drawing a blocking foul. Rachel Nickels followed with two free throws for the Patriots. Coldwater missed a pair of 3-point tries at the other end but collected two offensive rebounds, which led to Leichty getting fouled. She made both free throws to make it a two-point game with 23 seconds left.

The Cavaliers got back the ball by forcing a five-second count, and Annelise Harlamert tied the score at 45-all with an offensive stickback. Riley Rismiller fouled Prigge near the 3-point line to put her at the line for the lead. Prigge later had her 3-point attempt bank off the glass and bounce out of the hoop as time expired on Patrick Henry's season.

Coldwater stormed back to overcame an 11-point deficit in the second half. Leichty's shot ended a stretch of close-game losses for the Cavaliers, who suffered defeats in three of their final four games by margins of two or fewer points.

"We lost a couple of regular season games when we've been in that situation where we're up one or down one," coach Leichty said. "We've really done a good job of practicing those situations. I thought the girls executed that really well. At the end, we had two or three things that we needed to happen, and I thought the girls did a good job of executing one, two, three."

Patrick Henry's Carissa Rosebrook scored the first four points of the game. Coldwater was held scoreless until Gilliland's two free throws with 3:32 left in the quarter. Rismiller and Paige Siefring followed with hoops, and a banked-in 15-footer by Leichty gave the Cavaliers their first lead late in the opening frame. The teams were locked at 8-apiece after one quarter.

Patrick Henry held a 20-19 after a back-and-forth second quarter.

Prigge made a 3-pointer and an inside hoop to launch a 10-0 run right after halftime, extending Patrick Henry's advantage to 30-19. Coldwater's first points of the quarter came on Leichty's 3-point play with 3:30 left. Rismiller added an inside bucket, and the Cavs cut their deficit to four before Nickels last-second trey made it 34-27.

The Cavs opened the fourth on an 11-3 run, with a steal and layup by Gilliland giving them their first lead of the quarter. Patrick Henry scored the next seven points before Coldwater began its final charge.

"I think we calmed down a little bit," coach Leichty said. "I think we started executing better offensively as far as getting to the basket, I thought we rebounded better. That's been our M.O."

Rismiller had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Gilliland scored six of her eight in the final period. Harlamert added six points and eight boards.

Nickels had a team-high 13 for Patrick Henry (10-12).