For The Tribune
MEDORA
The Medora boys and girls basketball teams made it a clean sweep in the win column against Columbus Christian Saturday afternoon.
Owen Sullivan knocked down a jump shot with two seconds remaining to give the boys a 50-48 victory, their first of the season. That followed the Medora junior varsity also posting its first win of the season.
The Medora girls then used a strong second half to defeat the Crusaders for the second time this season, 46-32.
Boys post first win
The score was tied at 48-48 when Sullivan drove into the lane and was forced to call a time out with 6.9 seconds remaining when the Columbus defense collapsed around him.
Hornets coach Mark Morin said on the final play, “We ran a double screen for Owen Sullivan, who got the ball. We got it where we wanted it and he put it in.”
The Crusaders tried a desperation shot that was short and the Hornets celebrated their first win following 11 losses to open the season.
Sullivan attempted his shot inside the 3-point line on the left side of the lane. After the game he said he didn’t think the shot was going in.
Columbus held a 39-36 lead going into the fourth period before the Hornets went on a 7-0 run behind three points by Sullivan and four by JD Fish to move on top 43-39 midway through the period.
The Crusaders were leading 47-45 when Fish made a 3-pointer to put the Hornets on top 48-47with 1:05 remaining. Kyle Foster made one free throw with 44 seconds remaining to tie the score, and both teams missed scoring opportunities until Sullivan made the winning basket.
Medora led throughout the first quarter with a layup by Fish putting the home team on top 6-0 at the 6:10-mark, a basket by Sullivan set the score 13-4, and another layup by Fish giving the Hornets a 17-8 lead before the visitors closed to 17-14.
“Our JV coach (Bobby Thompson) gave the pre-game talk,” Morin said. “Maybe I’ll let him do it from now on. He won his game and I said, ‘Coach, tell them how to do it,’ and they went out and did it. It was nice to see everyone contribute.
“Even in this game, we’d get up five or six, and then we’d turn it over. In the past we got our heads down after that, but tonight we didn’t.”
Skylar Jones hit a 3-pointer in the second period to help the Hornets hold a 24-21 lead at the half.
Sullivan and Jones were both called for their third fouls in the second quarter and Morin said it was good to see other players step up and make plays.
“We’ve had a history of when things don’t go well, we kind of just fold, and the way the game kind of went back-and-forth we had chances where we could have just quit and we didn’t, especially when they banked in that 3 at the end of the third. That put them up three.”
Fish topped the Hornets with 21 points and Sullivan scored 17.
Conner Emily topped the Crusaders (5-11) with 23 points.
“I’m proud of them,” Morin said. “We needed that. We were 2-for-8 from the free-throw line, and they were 14-for-23.
“The first three quarters our defense hadn’t been real good so we kind of junked it up and we went triangle-and-two, then switched over to a 2-3 (zone) and tried to trap out of it in the fourth.
“We’ve got some games, if we play like this, we can be competitive in, so maybe we can do some things. These games are always a lot more fun when you hit the last shot.”
Medora (1-11) will host Union Dugger on Friday night.
Second half keys girls win
The Medora girls held only a 19-18 lead at the half which left Coach Brad McCammon with a sour taste in his mouth going into the locker room.
“I challenged them at halftime,” he said. “I had to raise the volume, but it woke them up. We were a little sluggish, and I challenged each and every one of them to contribute to what they were able to contribute and I thought we had a lot better effort.
“We looked like we knew what we were doing with the ball in the second half. Sometimes I think you play lethargic because you think ‘OK, we beat them is team (43-34) once so we can just walk through the motion.’ They came to play and we didn’t in the first half.”
The Hornets opened a 6-0 lead, and were on top 8-4 at the end of the first period before the Crusaders rallied to lead 11-10 with five minutes left in the second period.
A layup by Lillie Hatfield put the Hornets on top 19-11 with 2:35 until halftime before the visitors scored the final seven points of the period.
The Hornets responded to McCammon’s pep talk by opening the third period on a 10-0 run and used another layup by Hatfield to lead 29-18, and were on top 33-23 at the end of the quarter.
Medora stretched its lead to 39-25 on a rebound basket by Kelsey Turner three minutes into the fourth quarter and the closest the Crusaders could get after that was nine points.
Hatfield topped the Medora scoring with 22 points, Kailen Flynn scored 13, and Turner was high rebounder with 13.
Grace Lorimor was hit scorer for Columbus (1-8) with 14 points.
The win broke a nine game losing streak for the Hornets.
McCammon said it was a good team effort.
“Everybody came in and contributed well,” he said. “Katie Beesley was active, for not having a lot of varsity experience. Kelsey Turner was more active and was looking to do more things.
“To have a balanced team you’ve got to have post play to open things up for your outside players.”
Medora (2-9) will travel to Washington Catholic on Wednesday night.