By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Friday wasn't Norma Greco's night ... until it counted the most.
Hayden's 5-foot-6 senior guard missed her first eight shots from the field and went 1 of 10 on the night in Friday's Centennial League battle against Washburn Rural.
Hayden senior Norma Greco (30) scored all seven of her points down the stretch in the Wildcats' 46-44 Centennial League win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But Greco scored all seven of her points in the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds, including five straight to put Hayden ahead to stay as the third-ranked (Class 4A) Wildcats took a 46-44 nailbiter over the third-ranked (6A) Junior Blues at the Bueltel Activity Center.
"Obviously I was a little frustrated, but also I was like, 'I can't not play because my team needs me,' so I had to keep going,'' Greco said. "My shots were going to fall at some point, so I had to keep shooting, keep passing, keep dribbling and keep playing.''
Greco hit her first basket of the night, a 3-pointer, with 2:35 remaining to give Hayden a 40-38 lead and hit two free throws at the 1:49 mark to put the Wildcats up by four points.
"It felt good,'' Greco said about the crucial 3-pointer. "I felt a little bit of relief that one finally dropped for me. It's always a good game between us and Washburn so we were happy to get a win.''
Greco added a pair of free throws over the final 49.5 seconds, including the Wildcats' final point with 3.5 seconds remaining, as Hayden improved to 7-0 and picked up a big league win in its Centennial opener.
Hayden scored the first eight points of the game and held Washburn Rural (4-2, 0-1) without a field goal in the opening quarter en route to an 8-2 lead.
The Wildcats went on to open up a 10-point advantage three times in the second quarter and took a 25-16 advantage to the locker room at the half.
Rural turned the tables at the start of the second half, however, and got within a point (27-26) with 1:39 left in the quarter on a pair of Maddie Vickery free throws.
Hayden answered with six straight points before Vickery closed out the quarter with a 3-pointer to make it a four-point game (33-29) at the start of the final stanza.
Rural tied the game at 33 on a Vickery 3-pointer early in the quarter, and after a deadlock at 35, senior Madison Lemke scored to give the Junior Blues their first lead of the night with about five minutes remaining.
Senior Millie Ramsey scored a game-high 17 points in Hayden's 46-44 Centennial League win over Washburn Rural Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
A follow shot by Hayden senior Millie Ramsey knotted the game at 37 with 4:31 left before Tenly Bunck hit a free throw to give Rural a 38-37 advantage with 4:24 left.
Hayden senior standout Brylee Meier fouled out with 3:26 left and Rural had a chance to add to its advantage, but missed a pair of free throws and a couple of inside shots off a turnover before Greco helped the Wildcats regain the lead and hold on down the stretch.
"They really did show good resilience,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said of his team. "We only practiced the last two days but I told them how bad we needed a game like that because our closest game up to now was Shawnee Heights and it was 14 and we really needed to be tested. I was really proud of the girls.''
Ramsey led Hayden with a game-high 17 points while Meier had 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, and freshman Hailey Schmidtlein added eight points.
Vickery scored 15 points to pace Washburn Rural while senior Kate Hinck added 11 points and Lemke and Bunck eight points each.
HAYDEN GIRLS 46, WASHBURN RURAL 44
Washburn Rural 2 14 13 15 -- 44
Hayden 8 17 8 13 -- 46
Washburn Rural (4-2, 0-1) -- Hinck 4-10 2-3 11, Hirschi 0-7 0-0 0, Vickery 4-9 5-6 15, Lemke 4-6 0-2 8, Bunck 1-4 5-8 8, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Carlgren 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 14-40 12-19 44.
Hayden (7-0, 1-0) -- Schmidtlein 4-11 0-2 8, Ramsey 6-10 4-5 17, Reid 1-2 0-2 2, Meier 4-7 0-2 10, Greco 1-10 4-6 7, Walter 1-5 0-0 2, Foster 0-1 0-0 0, Huscher 0-0 0-2 0, Watts 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 17-47 8-17 46.
3-point goals -- Washburn Rural 4 (Vickery 2, Hinck, Bunck), Hayden 4 (Meier 2, Ramsey, Greco). Total fouls -- Washburn Rural 15, Hayden 17. Fouled out -- Meier. Technical foul -- none.
