Knights sweep Raiders|Terra Ceia girls win a thriller

Published 1:25 am Sunday, February 13, 2011

By By Jurgen Boerema, Contributing Reporter
Pantego —On Pungo’s Senior Night, Terra Ceia’s basketball teams came in and stole the show.
The Knights’ girls varsity won a 39-37 thriller that came to a furious race down the court on Friday night.
Hollie McDonald and Katie Jackson opened the game for Terra Ceia with a free throw and a runner for a 3-0 lead at the 5:36 mark.
Pungo battled back with Jenna Sadler and Karissa Cahoon each managing to knock down free throws at five minutes remaining and a little over four minutes remaining to cut the lead to 3-2.
But Terra Ceia kept up the offensive intensity over the first quarter’s remaining minutes as Katie Jackson put up six more points and Chandler Furlough and Morgan Boyd added scores to put the Knights at a 13-5 advantage at the end of the quarter.
Hollie McDonald and Kendra Van Staalduinen poured in Terra Ceia’s first two baskets of the second quarter before Pungo started to climb back into the game.
Pungo’s Jenna Sadler powered a 9-0 run with a two free throws and a layup to come up on Terra Ceia at 17-16.
Chandler Furlough was able to stop the bleeding for Terra Ceia with a layup with twenty seconds left in the half off a Sarah Tubaugh miss to give Terra Ceia a three point lead and some breathing room.
The third quarter saw both teams battling for control of the game and Pungo holding a 29-28 lead.
But, Hollie McDonald responded with a running three at the horn that sent the crowd into a frenzy and gave the Knights a 31-29 lead and a huge boost going into the final quarter.
The final minutes of the game was a struggle of wills and courage as Pungo was able to pull a 35-32 lead off a Karissa Cahoon layup and two more Jenna Sadler free throws with 3:21 remaining.
The defensive intensity of the game over the next two and half minutes reached a fever pitch as the only offensive changes that came were two free throws from Chandler Furlough to bring the Knights within one.
Jenna Sadler scored with a layup in traffic at 50 seconds remaining to give the Raiders a 37-34 lead.
But Hollie McDonald responded with another clutch three pointer to tie the game.
The Knights came down the floor two plays later with a plan to hit McDonald again. Unfortunately for the Knights her shot glanced off the opposite corner of the rim.
Chandler Furlough was able to rip down a powerful rebound and bank in a layup at 8:2 seconds.
Pungo used a timeout to draw up one final play of the regular season.
Allison Armstrong was able to get all the way down into the lane with a good look at the basket, but her shot glanced off the side of the backboard as time expired.
Knights’ coach Daren Hubers praised his team’s performance.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game going in. Especially being Pungo’s Senior Night and all. We knew they were going to play hard. But we’ve been on a good streak here lately and we are playing a lot better.”
The win Friday night follows a Monday night win against Northeast and a tough, but hard-fought ten point loss against second-seeded conference opponent Ridgecroft on Tuesday. The Knights stand at 4-8 in the TIC.
The Knights head into next week’s conference tournament seeded fifth.
“It was just a really gutsy performance by our players to stick it out in the end and come away with a really nice win here at the last game of the season,” said Hubers
Pungo girl’s coach Melanie Sawyer also praised the Knights’ performance.
“I thought Terra Ceia played a great ball game. They deserved to win. We were tense and nervous. Senior Night nerves were definitely there. Terra Ceia came out to win and did a good job.”
The Knights varsity boys stayed in control the majority of their game running out to a 31-19 lead at the end of the first half and a 58-41 win in the end.
Pungo crept up in Terra Ceia in the fourth quarter slicing the deficit to seven at 39-32.
But Wayne Howell was able to pull down a rebound in the paint and scored off a pair of missed Thaddeus Van Essendelft free throws.
Moments later Derrick Chesson was able to draw a foul and can two free throws to push the lead to 43-32.
Then after Pungo converted on a possession, Thaddeus Van Essendelft cruised in and stretched the lead to 45-34.
Van Essendelft fed Kyle Hendrix later to run the score up to 47-34.
The final minutes saw the Knights in command as key reserves came in and maintained the lead.
Kyle Hendrix led the Knights with 14 points. Derrick Chesson and Austin Van Staalduinen each added 12. Thaddeus Van Essendelft had 10 and Wayne Howell, eight. Andrew Van Staalduinen also chipped in with two.
Pungo’s David Talley was leading scorer with 12. Christian Ange and Dillon Woolard came close behind with eight. Kris Armstrong produced six points and Colby Latham came up with four. Ethan Credle rounded out the night for the Raiders with three.
Raiders’ first-year coach Jason Adams pointed out some positive aspects of his team’s loss.
“I liked the effort of our seniors that they put in tonight. They played their tails off. I am just sorry they couldn’t bring in a win back home with them.
Coach Roger Klaassen said his team came prepared for the game.
“We had a plan defensively of how to come out and attack them. They executed it to perfection. Offensively they just had a great first half. The second half they just gutted it out down the stretch.”
The Knights enter their conference tournament seeded fifth with a game this Wednesday at 7:30. The win brought their conference record to 3-7.