Basketball: Flowing Wells and CDO to meet in Division II final
by Andy Morales on Feb. 07, 2013, under Sports
Lyndsay Leikem made six straight free throws in the fourth quarter to lead Flowing Wells to the D-II sectionals final. Andy Morales Photo.
The Division II sectional between Flowing Wells and Queen Creek turned into a battle between Queen Creek senior Makaily Worthington (Utah Valley) and Flowing Wells senior Lyndsay Leikem (Indiana). A battle, that is, until Flowing Wells took a 38-30 lead on a bucket by Mikaela Cook with 1:07 left in the third quarter.
To that point, Leikem had scored 19 points and Worthington had 15 and then….nothing. Flowing Wells would not score again for the next 7 minutes and 16 seconds. It was an incredible drought that was made even more remarkable because Queen Creek still found themselves behind 38-37.
Worthington was able to hit a couple free throws in that time to increase her total to 17 but Leikem returned the favor by connecting on two free throws of her own to break the scoreless streak with 1:51 left in the game.
Worthington hit a bucket with 1:03 left to make it 40-39 Flowing Wells and then Flowing Wells turned the ball over with 46 seconds left but Czarina Walker came up with the steal of the game with 32 seconds left to get the ball back.
Leikem was fouled twice the rest of the way and she iced the game by hitting on four straight free throws in the final 13.6 seconds. 44-39 Flowing Wells.
Leikem finished with 25 and Worthington had 19. Shalise Fernander added 10 points for Flowing Wells, Cook had 5 and Walker had 4.
Sarah Hefington scored 7 for Queen Creek and Obi Nga added 6.
Flowing Wells could have put the game away much earlier but they missed on at least 12 shots inside the lane with about half of those open layups. Still, Flowing Wells coach Michael Perkins knew Leikem would somehow will his team to win.
“I felt like I was going to get some grey hairs but we took good shots but they wouldn’t fall,” said Perkins.
“The kids stayed steady and it came down to defense and our defense stepped up at the end. We were getting good looks all night and we are going to get better because of it.”
Flowing Wells will now meet up against Canyon del Oro in the sectional championship game after the Dorados outlasted Sabino in double overtime in the second semifinal game held at Amphi Thursday night.
The two teams appeared to pick up where Flowing Wells did and the score stood at 0-0 after four minutes until CDO guard Brittany West nailed back-to-back 3-pointers in a 30-second span. Katelyn Houston put Sabino on the board with a couple of free throws with 1:51 left in the first but Hailey Jones hit another 3-pointer for CDO to give them a 9-2 lead after the first period.
Kylelynne Vinueza scored eight points in the second quarter to help Sabino to a 18-17 lead at the half.
Sabino standout center Alexa Arndt was held scoreless to that point, partially because she is still coming off an illness and partially due to the defense applied by Sammy Nettling. Arndt could not shake Nettling but CDO could not capitalize and the game was tied 23-23 entering the fourth quarter.
Arndt got on the board with a bucket seconds into the final period to put Sabino up 25-23 and then Kim Schaffer hit a 3-pointer to increase the lead to 28-24 after Jones made a free throw for CDO.
Vinueza scored to give Sabino a 30-24 lead with 6:03 left in the game but Jones scored and Nettling hit two free throws to cut into the lead, 30-28 with 3:21 left.
Schaffer scored to extend the lead back to four but West hit another 3-pointer to cut it to 32-31 Sabino with 2:20 left. Marli Ray sank two free throws for Sabino but West tied it up at 34-34 with another 3-pointer with 1:38 left.
Sabino ran out the clock but missed on a last-second shot to send the game to overtime.
CDO went up 37-35 with 1:04 left in OT and Sabino missed a shot in the lane which led to a jump ball situation and then a foul to send CDO to the line where they missed on the front end of a one-and-one.
Sabino came down with about 10 seconds left and freshman Brianna Pitre made a bucket from the baseline to send the game to double overtime. 37-37.
CDO made seven free throws in the second OT to make the score 44-37 with 24.2 seconds left but things got interesting after Ray hit a 3-pointer to make it 44-40 with 13.9 seconds left. Nettling hit on her fourth free throw of the extra period to make it 45-40 and CC Erwin banked in a 3-pointer to make it 45-43 but time ran out on the Sabercats.
West led all scorers with 17 points on the strength of five 3-pointers and Jones added 14 for CDO. Nettling scored 8 points with six coming on free throws in crunch time.
Ray led Sabino with 13 points, Vinueza had 11 and Schaffer added 8.
The updated schedule is listed below:
GIRLS DIVISION II/SECTION I
SEMIFINALS
Thursday, February 7
2 Flowing Wells 44, 6 Queen Creek 39
4 CDO 45, 8 Sabino 43
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, February 9
2 Flowing Wells vs. 4 CDO, 5:45 at Amphi
GIRLS DIVISION III/SECTION II
SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 8
1 Safford vs. 5 Gilbert Christian, 6 pm at Cholla
2 Thatcher vs. 3 Benson, 3pm at Cholla
GIRLS DIVISION IV/SECTION II
SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 8
1 Duncan vs. 4 Fort Thomas, 5 pm at Safford
3 Desert Christian vs. 7 St. David, 6 pm at Cienega
BOYS DIVISION II/SECTION I
SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 8
1 Catalina Foothills vs. 5 Sahuaro, 7:30 pm at Amphi
2 Nogales vs. 3 Salpointe, 5:45 pm at Amphi
BOYS DIVISION III/SECTION II
SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 8
4 Rio Rico vs. 1 Gilbert Christian, 7:30 pm at Cholla
7 Benson vs. 3 Florence. 4:30 pm at Cholla
BOYS DIVISION IV/SECTION II
SEMIFINALS
Friday, February 8
2 Desert Christian vs. 3 Duncan, 4:30 pm at Cienega
4 St. Gregory vs. 1 Ray, 7:30 pm at Cienega
