More photos. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
COLORADO SPRINGS — Pine Creek’s Jane Lydiatt sent the home crowd into a frenzy when she drained a 3-pointer to tie the game. Rampart had a crack at the last shot, but nothing as the final seconds ticked away. Bella Gonzalez was able to corral the rebound and throw up one last heave.
The ball didn’t go in, but it was because Gonzalez was fouled with one second left. She drained both free throws giving the Rams a 40-38 win over CHSAANow.com’s No. 8 team in Class 5A.
“I was under a lot of pressure but I just feel that we work on free throws every day in practice,” Gonzalez said. “I just felt like I was going to knock them down. I wasn’t worried about it at all.”
It was only fitting that the game would go down to the wire. The two longtime rivals had a lot of trouble scoring early, setting the tone for a close battle. It was until there was 4:04 left in the first quarter that Rampart (15-5 overall, 6-3 Colorado Springs Metro League) broke the drought as Nicea Eliely put them on the board.
In fact, the Nebraska commit scored all eight first quarter points for the Rams.
The Eagles (17-4, 9-1) kept pace mostly thanks to Spencer Lindsey. She and Jade Odom each scored a team-high 10 points for Pine Creek.
It was Eliely who was the primary scoring force for Rampart as she registered a game-high 14 points. But it was Gonzalez who really set the tone to start the second half, knocking down two huge 3-pointers. Defensively the Rams were doing a great job of slowing down a normally high-powered Pine Creek offense.
More photos. (Josh Watt/CHSAANow.com)
“We told the girls that this game was going to be a grinder,” Rams coach Ashley Miller said. “It was going to come down to the little things and who does them for 32 minutes.”
Rampart took a one-point lead into halftime and the teams played even through the second and third quarters. But Gonzalez’s shooting really gave the Rams enough breathing room to consistently keep the pressure on the Eagles.
“I’ve been practicing a lot on shooting outside,” she said. “I haven’t been shooting a lot, but this game was a big deal.”
Perhaps the most important shot she took all night couldn’t fall, but the resulting foul is what put her at the charity stripe with the chance to repay Pine Creek for beat the Rams on their home floor back on Jan. 19.
After the final buzzer, Pine Creek coach Kenny VanRyn had his players shake hands, then promptly exited the court as he was visibly frustrated with the call.
With the win over Pine Creek, the Rams feel that they have plenty of momentum with the 5A playoffs less than two weeks away.
“It was awesome,” Eliely said. “We know that we’re capable of doing so much more and if we can shut down this team than we can shut down anyone.”