Sports
Tolson Wills Federal Hocking past Nelsonville-York in Overtime
By: Michael Roth
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Sometimes high school basketball games need more than just 32 minutes to decide the winner, and that was exactly what happened in Stewart tonight.
When Federal Hocking (6-9, 4-5 TVC-Hocking) hosted the Nelsonville-York Lady Buckeyes (9-7, 3-3 TVC-Ohio) 32 minutes just wasn’t enough after N-Y scored three points in the final minute to tie the game and send it to an overtime period.
The overtime period got started with a 3-pointer from Kylie Tabler, and Fed Hock never looked back – hanging on to that lead to win 56-54.
The Lady Lancers got off to an early lead thanks to some drives and kicks from point guard Paige Tolson to shooters on the outside, and forward in the paint.
Nelsonville-York fought back in the second quarter without star Mary-Kate McCulloch, as she got her second foul late in the first quarter and was subsequently benched for the remainder of the first half.
“She got her second foul early and I decided to rest her for the half because we had some control,” Nelsonville-York head coach Bobby Cassidy said.
N-Y came out of the locker room strong with freshman Mackenzie Hurd taking control of the game. She finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and three steals. Her all around effort was crucial for the Buckeyes to stay in the game.
“She had a great game and has progressed a lot throughout the year,” Cassidy said.
In the fourth quarter Federal Hocking came out with a successful triangle and two defense, forcing the Buckeyes to make other players beat them.
“It was the first time we ran that defense, and it had some success taking away Hurd and McCulloch,” Federal Hocking head coach Jeremy Tolson said.
One of the Lady Buckeyes that had success with the less attention was Grace Sinnott who had seven points and 11 rebounds. The Lady Lancers also had a player with double-digit rebounds, with Emma Beha finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
In the end, the Lady Lancers just had too much offense for Nelsonville-York to handle, especially without Hurd and Joscelyn Heller who both fouled out late in the game.
Federal Hocking returns to action on Thursday against TVC-Hocking leading Waterford, while Nelsonville-York takes on River Valley that same evening.