By Kim J. Harmon
By Kim J. Harmon
It was a heck of a comeback, born on the shoulders of one Sara Kelley, but it wasnât quite enough to pull off the win.
Down 17 points heading into the final period against Jockey Hollow of Monroe on Monday afternoon, the Newtown Middle School girlsâ basketball team â that is to say, Kelley, the eighth-grade co-captain â went on a tear and pulled within as little as three points before running out of time.
Kelley canned 17 points in the fourth period alone, knocking down a pair of three pointers as well as an old-fashioned three-point play, and finished with 30 markers on the afternoon but it was Jockey Hollow that came away with the 51-46 win.
Still, it was a heck of a comeback ⦠even if the Lady Lions remained winless in the 2005-06 season.
The Lady Lions were fortunate to have co-captain Kait Marsden back on the floor, but were without co-captain Kate Bowen, nursing an ankle injury. That left the task of taking on a strong Jockey Hollow team to players like Kelley and Marsden, Ally Modzelewski, Brittany Wiberg, Nicole Elias, Hannah Basch-Gould and Lyndsay Burns, all of whom combined for the 15 points Kelley didnât score.
While Jockey Hollow took an early 3-0 lead, but Marsden popped in a basket on a drive down the lane, Kelley followed up with her first bucket, and Wiberg tossed in one of her own to put the locals ahead, 6-3.
But then Jockey Hollow went on a 13-0 run into the second quarter before the Lady Lions finally recovered. Kelley had a pair of buckets in the second stanza and Modzelewski added a bucket and a free throw as the locals pulled to within four at the half, 23-19.
Jockey Hollow started pulling away in the third and buckets by Kelley, Modzelewski and Basch-Gould kept things from getting totally out of control. In the fourth, Kelley opened with a two and then, after Jockey Hollow answered back, scored 10 unanswered points to pull the Lady Lions to within seven.
Kelley added another three-pointer later in the period and dropped in a couple of free throws, but Jockey Hollow iced the game with a pair of free throws with 13.9 seconds left.
The game was re-scheduled from earlier in the season and came on the heels of Jockey Hollowâs 35-33 win over the Lady Lions last week. In that game, Kelley popped in 17 points while Wiberg and Elias combined for 10 more.
In recent action, the locals dropped a 46-35 decision to Rochambeau despite a 24-point effort from Kelley and four-point efforts from Wiberg and Elias. In a 60-37 loss to Brookfield, Kelley canned 18 points while Wiberg added six and Basch-Gould and Bowen tossed in four points apiece.