Comments (...)Senior night didn’t go quite as planned for the Morris Lady Redskins on Friday night as they dropped their final home game of the year to the Sycamore Spartans by a score of 55-49.
The Redskins got off to a quick start and jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the first quarter, but the Spartans came storming back behind the sharpshooting of sophomore Bailey Gilbert. Gilbert scored 10 points in the first quarter and the Spartans carried a 15-10 lead into the break.
Gilbert would continue to fuel the Sycamore attack and the Spartans would go on to extend their lead to 32-16. However, Morris would finish the half on a small surge and cut the lead to 32-20 on a buzzer beating layup by junior guard Jade Fischer.
“We really didn’t play defense for the first three quarters,” Morris head coach Luke Windy said. “We gave them too many wide open looks and that just boils down to execution. We switched out of the 2-3 zone into man at one point in the second quarter and we cut the lead down to six, but we lost a girl in transition and gave up a quick three.”
Sycamore continued to pour on the steam coming out of the half. The Spartans went on an 11-2 run to start the third quarter and at one point their lead extended to 21 points. At the end of the third quarter, Morris trailed by a score of 50-33.
However, in the fourth quarter the Redskins were able to get back into the game by applying pressure to the Sycamore offense. Morris forced eight fourth quarter turnovers and eventually would cut the lead all the way down to 51-45 late in the fourth quarter.
Playing their final regular season home game for the Redskins, seniors Sydney Corrigan and Bernadette Cheshareck would combine to score 10 points for Morris (four for Corrigan and six for Cheshareck). Corrigan also chipped in five assists on the night.
“I know my role out there is to penetrate and kick out, or penetrate the middle and if the help comes to kick it down to the block,” Corrigan said.
The Morris comeback was squashed late when a technical foul was called on Windy following a handcheck that put Sycamore junior Julia Moll at the line. Gilbert split the technical free throws and the ensuing possession would extend the lead back to nine.
