By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- To say Hayden's girls basketball team got off to a slow start in Thursday's season-opener is a big understatement.
But that nasty beginning set the stage for the sweetest of endings, with the Wildcats rallying from 19 down in the opening quarter and 13 down at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 60-54 overtime win over Spring Hill in the opening round of the Paul Terry Classic at White Auditorium.
Hayden's players begin to celebrate in the closing seconds of Thursday's 60-54 overtime win over Spring Hill in the Paul Terry Classic at Emporia. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
After digging itself a huge hole, Hayden outscored Spring Hill 29-10 in the fourth quarter and overtime to pull out the victory.
"I would say we were nervous and I came in thinking, 'OK, this team already has a win under their belt, we haven't played,' so I think we were all playing timid, but we got back into it,'' said Hayden junior Lauren Sandstrom, who finished with a game-high 25 points, including eight points in the overtime.
Sandstrom said after climbing all the way back to force the overtime, the Wildcats knew the game was in their grasp in the extra session.
"It was bad in the beginning, but going into overtime I was hyping everyone up. I'm like, 'This is our game. We fought through this, it's time to finish it,' '' Sandstrom said.
Hayden trailed 4-2 early against the Broncos before Spring Hill ran off 15 straight points to open up a 19-2 lead with 1:40 left and went on to go in front 23-4 before Wildcat sophomore Brylee Meier hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter.
"I was thinking them having a game under their belt was pretty big,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "Early on we were just shell-shocked. But this team is really cool to coach because even though we were down 23-4 every shot we made everybody was celebrating like crazy. They all really love each other.''
Sandstrom opened the second quarter with another 3 for the Wildcats and Hayden got within 10 (27-17) later in the quarter before Spring Hill built its lead back to 15 and took a 36-23 advantage to the locker room at the half.
Hayden got within nine in the third quarter but was still down by 13 (44-31) at the start of the fourth quarter.
And that's when everything changed for the the Wildcats.
Hayden outscored Spring Hill by a whopping 18-5 margin over the final eight minutes of regulation, tying the game at 49 with 56.9 seconds remaining on a traditional 3-point play from Meier.
The Wildcats' momentum carried over to the overtime, with Hayden opening the extra session with two Meier free throws and a Sandstrom hoop as the Wildcats took their first lead of the night.
Spring Hill got no closer than two the rest of the way and the Wildcats built a 60-51 advantage late before the Broncos drained a 3-pointer as time ran out.
Sandstrom's eight points in the OT included a 6 of 6 performance at the free throw line over the final 32.8 seconds.
Meier backed Sandstrom with 19 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore Norma Greco added 10 points.
The Hayden win avenged a loss to Spring Hill last season in the championship game of the Wellsville tournament.
Hayden will return to action at 6:30 p.m. Friday against tournament host Emporia.
HAYDEN GIRLS 60, SPRING HILL 54 (OT)
Hayden 7 16 8 18 11 -- 60
Spring Hill 23 13 8 5 5 -- 54
Hayden (1-0) -- Lenherr 1 0-1 2, Fulton 2 1-3 4, Sandstrom 8 8-10 25, Meier 4 10-13 19, Greco 4 1-2 10, Grunert 0 0-0 0, Cruz 0 0-0 0, Reid 0 0-0 0, Watts 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 19-29 60.
Spring Hill (1-1) -- Bond 3 0-2 6, Weber 3 0-0 8, Buscher 3 1-7 7, Suter 3 0-1 7, Laplante 5 2-2 12, Rodden 2 1-6 5, Herman 3 2-3 9, Todd 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-21 54.
3-point goals -- Hayden 3 (Sandstrom, Meier, Greco), Spring Hill 4 (Weber 2, Herman, Suter). Total fouls -- Hayden 19, Spring Hill 22. Fouled out – Buscher, Laplante, Meier.
