Sports
Nelsonville York’s Season Ends in Overtime Thriller
By: Jerry Kirven
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With 13.7 seconds left in overtime, Jessie Addis approached the free throw line for what would be the last time in her Nelsonville York career. She took deep breaths, while she shook lactic acid out of her shoulders, all to prepare for the two most important shots of her historic career.
No matter the result, Addis was still the Buckeyes all-time leading scorer, a title she’s pursued since her first game in orange and brown, and a title she finally earned early in Thursday nights game.
As the second consecutive free throw attempt ricocheted off the back of the rim, Addis knew that her season and her high school basketball career were in its final chapter.
Addis’ missed free throws was the break Crooksville needed to hold on to a 59-57 overtime victory over Nelsonville-York.
With the loss, Nelsonville-York’s season ends at 15-8. The defeat came from a familiar opponent. Nelsonville-York has met Crooksville in the first round of the playoffs each of the last three years. The Buckeyes previously ended the Ceramics seasons in both of their prior matchups.
“It felt so good to finally beat them,” Crooksville guard Carson Miller said.
Crooksville came in ready for its rubber match with Nelsonville-York. The Ceramics matched Nelsonville-York’s mid range game with Carson Miller’s 32 points and 12 rebounds.
Addis, who only needed three points to become Nelsonville-York’s all-time leading scorer, scored 20 points and coupled it with six rebounds, eight assists and seven steals.
Addis broke Nelsonville-York’s all-time scoring record on a free throw with two minutes left in the half. The Lady Buckeyes were trailing, but the noise the handful of Nelsonville-York fans in the crowd made erupted over the sound of the history-making bucket.
With the thrill of a teammate making history also came with the anxiety of entering the half down one point.
The Buckeyes were not blowing past the Ceramics like they had become accustomed to. The Ceramics’ Grace Schooley and Lakyn German were making 3-pointers despite unorthodox shooting forms that looked more like 30-foot chest passes. While the Buckeyes struggled from the line and under the basket.
Leading by three with 4.6 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Crooksville could feel its long-awaited victory approaching.
But the Buckeyes had other plans.
Ashleigh Cantrell found Grace Sinnott in the left corner and Sinnott hit a blind 3-pointer to force the game into overtime.
“I got hit when I shot the ball so I didn’t get to see it go in” Sinnott said. “I might actually have a concussion,” she said with a smile.
Call it blind luck but the Buckeyes were granted four more minutes to save their season. Unfortunately for them, tonight was the night where a great thing came to an end.
Jessie Addis has missed hundreds of shots throughout her career, but like the legend she is, she continues to shoot and that mentality has earned her 1,532 points over a four year career that saw her never sit out a game or dwell on defeat.