Baylor Beats GPS Despite Free Throw Woes

Xahara Willis Scores 20 As Lady Raiders Prevail, 45-42

Baylor and GPS have quite an intense rivalry as everyone knows, so you know that anytime these two teams face each other in an athletic event, it will be a battle for the ages.

That was certainly the case at GPS Thursday night.

Both of these teams have losing records in basketball, but both are continuing to get better with each game played.  Those wins and losses had nothing to do with the effort put forth on both sides.

The Baylor girls must be living right as they improved to 6-11 with their 45-42 victory and they did so despite making just seven of 25 free throws.  GPS was just a tad bit better after making 16 of 27.

The Lady Red Raiders have some really good shooters, but there must have been a lid over the basket as they couldn't hit the ocean from the end of the pier from the charity stripe.

 Defense always plays a big role and that was the difference in this game.

"We'll take a win any way we can get it," said Baylor coach John Gibson after the game ended.

I thought we handled their pressure well, but we struggled mightily at the free throw line.  This is a huge rivalry and I'm sure nerves were a big part, but our defense was tough and that was probably how we won.

"We made it tough on them and I thought we rebounded well, but the bottom line is that we scored three more points than they did and we'll go back to work tomorrow," he added.

GPS coach Janna Eichelberger really didn't know what to say after her girls played their hearts out, but had nothing positive to show for their effort.

"We're getting there," Eichelberger said after taking a deep breath when asked her thoughts on the game.

"We had a bunch of girls standing around, so we have to be better at creating offensive flow and we have to shoot the ball better.  We played really hard, but seemed to get tired at the end," she added after team's record dropped to 5-9.

It was a battle from the opening whistle at Baylor took the lead when Xahara Willis sank a jumper from the line inside the first minute.

Sophie Choate hit a baseline jumper with 5:23 showing to give the Bruisers a 4-2 lead.  There were four lead changes in the opening stanza, but the game was tied at 11 when the quarter ended after Willis scored on a layup just ahead of the buzzer.

Sophia O'Keefe sank a 3 to start the second stanza to put GPS up 14-11, but five straight points for Baylor – including a 3 from Amiya Leach with 5:47 to play – put the Lady Red Raiders up 16-14.

A layup from Addi Smith knotted the score at 18-18 for the Bruisers before Alexys Brown scored the final five points for Baylor as they had a 23-19 lead at the break.

Baylor had its biggest lead of eight points at 31-23 with 3:24 left in the third following a 3 by Paige Thompson.  The difference was still eight at 34-26 when the third quarter ended.

Willis put Baylor up 36-26 to start the fourth quarter, but that's when GPS made its move by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to knot the score at 38-38 following two free throws by Farah House with 3:58 to play.

The GPS faithful went crazy when O'Keefe sank the second of two free throws with 2:14 left to put the Bruisers up, 40-39.

Willis responded with a bucket to put Baylor back on top and it was 43-40 following two free throws by Lilly Catalanoto with 1:16 to play, but Baylor was charged a technical foul at that point because of an error on the scorebook.

Choate sank both free throws to make it 43-42, but Willis grabbed the rebound on a Bruiser miss and went coast-to-coast for a three-point lead with 42 seconds to play.

Neither team scored again as Baylor missed its last two free throws with three seconds left and GPS was unable to get off a final shot.

Willis was Baylor's leading scorer with 20 points, despite missing all seven of her free throws.  Brown and Thompson followed with seven and six points, respectively.

Ariana Ivery was tops for GPS with 12 points while House had eight and Choate seven.

Both teams unofficially had 33 rebounds.  Brown had nine and Thompson eight for Baylor while Ivery was tops for GPS with 12.

BAYLOR  11  12  11  11  --  45

GPS  11  8  7  16  --  42

BAYLOR (45) – Oleksik 4, Thompson 6, Emendorfer, Brown 7, Lail, Leach 5, Xahara Willis 20, Daniels, Catalanoto 3.

GPS (42) – Choate 7, Laney 4, Ariana Ivery 12, O'Keefe 4, Lawrence 3, Gee, Smith 6, Wilson 2, House 8.

3-POINT GOALS: Baylor 4 (Thompson 2, Oleksik, Leach); GPS 3 (Choate, Laney, O'Keefe).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

***In Middle School action Baylor won over GPS 54-23***