COVINGTON — Brookville trailed by 16 points with less than 15 seconds left in the first half of a game against Dayton Christian in the Sectional Tournament Saturday, Feb. 17, as a late three-point basket by Ashlee Haupt made the score 26-10 at the break.
Still the odds were stacked against Brookville. The Lady Devils were three of 22 from the field in the first half including two of 14 on two point tries.
Despite playing against five experienced seniors while playing three freshmen and looking at a 13th straight loss in postseason play, and a potential 12 years without a tournament win, the Lady Devils somehow found a way to come from behind and win a thrilling overtime game 51-45 to earn their ninth win of the season against 14 losses.
“The coaches are so proud of these girls,” stated Josh Kummer. “They have bought into the program, they have bought into the process, and they have bought into themselves. We keep talking about believing in yourself and believe in what we are doing.”
It was an incredible win for Brookville. The Lady Devils made only one basket in the final 15 plus minutes of the game and 21 of the final 23 points Brookville scored in the game came from the free throw line.
Brookville made one two-point basket in the fourth quarter, and none in overtime, but still somehow won the game. The majority of the minutes played featured three freshman, two juniors, combined with one senior on the court.
Brookville scored first in the game. However, the Warriors drained a three-pointer and won the first quarter 8-4.
It was 26-10 before Ashlee Haupt drained a long three-point basket to end the first half at 26-13. That trifecta tied Haupt for the most three-pointers in a season in girls’ basketball at Brookville with 52.
In the third quarter cut the lead to 28-19 on home run balls by Oliver and Haupt. Haupt’s three set a new single season record. However, DC scored four straight and led 32-19 with over three minutes remaining in the quarter.
Brookville closed the stanza on an 11-point run. Neither team scored in the final 1:14 and the game went into the fourth stanza with the Warriors leading 32-30.
The fourth quarter started with Brookville missing a wide open three and Dayton Christian answering with a basket. It was 38-33 DC with just over four minutes left in the game.
Dafler made a free throw and Luebke made a lay in. Ashlee Haupt was fouled with 3:06 to go. The Warrior who fouled out, was then given a technical foul for saying something.
Haupt made three of the four free throws and Brookville had only their second lead of the game at 39-38. However, DC regained the lead with 1:31 left in the game on a three-point basket by Meela Seaquist.
Brookville got one free throw by Oliver with 19.7 seconds left and after a miss on the second try Haupt grabbed the rebound and was fouled. With 18.3 Haupt tied the game on a free throw and the game headed to overtime tied at 41.
In overtime, Luebke made two free throws with 2:03 to go to give Brookville only their third lead of the game. At the 1:04 mark Oliver hit a charity shot and then Luebke made two more free throws with 48 seconds left in the extra period to give Brookville a 46-41 lead.
Seaquist made two baskets with Haupt making a free throw in between. Less than ten seconds remained and Brookville led by two at 47-45. Haupt was fouled with 3.3 seconds on the clock. DC was again called for a technical, and Haupt calmly made all four charity shots and Brookville would escape 51-45.
The win came 4,380 days since the last Brookville Lady Devils tournament victory. The previous was 11 years and 28 days ago on February 21, 2012 over Northridge.
Dayton Christian was led in scoring by Meela Seaquist with 15 points; Kelsey Towle added nine and Isabella Ferriman scored eight.
Brookville scoring shows Ashlee Haupt with 26 points, 14 from the foul line. Megan Luebke added eight, Jordyn Oliver seven, Hunter Gardner four, and Alysaa Lackey and Ellie Dafler three points each. Sara Carr did not score but she did block several shots and grabbed a couple of rebounds in addition to winning both tip-offs, one at the beginning of the game and the second to start overtime. Brookville made only nine baskets, six were three-pointers. The Blue Devils won because of free throw shooting. The Lady Devils made 27 of 37 charity shots for 73 percent. Brookville averaged 58.5 percent from the foul line during the regular season.
Brookville will now play Versailles at Covington on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Brookvillesports.com, a free internet radio website, will broadcast the game beginning at 7:15 p.m.
