Eau Claire North Girls Basketball

1998-99 GIRL'S BASKETBALL RECAPS

February 2, 1999

North 59, Memorial 61 .. North Boxscore

By Steve Beaudry

The basketball was up in the air, and so was the game. City bragging rights? They were up there too.

Amanda Buchholz found herself in position to grab all three.

Fittingly, she did.

After spending the brunt of Tuesday evening shooting her way into prominence, the Eau Claire Memorial sophomore center got defensive with 3 seconds left in overtime.

Buchholz used all of her 6-foot frame to outstretch Eau Claire North forward Larissa Parr for a rebound underneath the Huskies' basket.

Moments later, the Old Abes finally were exhaling, mopping the sweat off their brows and celebrating a 61-59 Big Rivers Conference victory at the Eagles Nest.

"We figured it'd come down to the last shot," Huskies point guard Scooter Aspen said, "and that's the way it turned out."

The loss by North (8-2, 12-3) allowed Hudson (8-1, 11-4) to move past the Huskies into first place in the BRC standings. The four-time defending conference-champion Raiders, who will visit North on Friday, blitzed River Falls 72-37 Tuesday.

Memorial (6-3, 9-4), with six wins in its last seven games, has moved back into the championship race.

On Tuesday, Buchholz did most of the driving.

"We were all psyched for this game," said Buchholz, who had game highs of 21 points and seven rebounds. Two of her field goals came in overtime, when the Abes outscored the Huskies 11-9. "We didn't want to put ourselves in an early hole like we did the last time we played North."

In the teams' first meeting Dec. 17, the Abes fell into a 21-8 pit and never got out en route to a 52-42 loss.

After being down 3-2 Tuesday, a 3-pointer by Crystal Walker gave Memorial a lead it didn't relinquish until North's Nicki Robinson nailed a pair of free throws with 2 minutes, 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

"I give North a lot of credit for the way they battled back," said Memorial coach Steve Smith, whose team led by as many as nine points in the second quarter. "They changed up their defenses on us in the second half, and we had trouble adjusting."

Buchholz, though, had no trouble finding shooting lanes underneath the basket. With Parr and 6-foot-3 North center Chandra Johnson dogged by foul trouble, Buchholz had by far the best game of her varsity career.

"My teammates did a great job finding me with passes," said Buchholz, who averaged 6.3 points per game before Tuesday and only scored in double figures once before. "I had to back off a little when I got my fourth foul."

That fourth foul came 2:26 into the fourth quarter, and Buchholz promptly checked out of the game. From then until 1:43 remained in the quarter, the Huskies shot 8-for-10 from the free-throw line and pulled within 49-48.

Walker pushed Memorial's lead to 50-48 with a free throw -- though she was only two of nine from the line overall.

"It was all mental. I'm not that bad a free-throw shooter," she said.

North cashed in on Walker's misses when Aspen found Robinson with a pass on the left baseline at North's end of the floor. Robinson swished a fadeaway jumper to tie the game at 50 with 8 seconds left in regulation.

The lead changed hands seven times in overtime. Memorial scored what proved to be the winning points when Walker weaved her way out of a trap in the right corner and alertly spotted forward Lindsey Scheible.

Scheible, who was as open as a prairie, canned her first field goal of the game for a 60-59 Abes edge with 21 seconds on the clock.

"That wasn't a set play," Walker said. "It just sort of unfolded."

After a timeout, Parr had a chance to hit a game-winner. But her 10-foot jumper missed. Buchholz snared the rebound and fed Walker, who was fouled and hit one free throw.

"This challenges everything we've worked for," said North coach Chico LaBarbera, whose team's other BRC loss was a 53-51 setback to Menomonie. "We're a team of battlers. It will be up to us to battle back from this."

EAU CLAIRE NORTH (59)

FG-A FT-A TP: Scooter Aspen 0-2 9-14 9, Rachel Evjen 5-7 0-0 10, Erika Reber 0-2 4-4 4, Kristi Gehring 2-3 1-2 5, Chandra Johnson 3-7 3-5 9, Larissa Parr 2-7 3-4 7, Nicki Robinson 2-5 6-7 10, Bridget Aspen 0-1 0-0 0, Kricket Whyte 1-2 1-4 3, Beth Hoenisch 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey Rongstad 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 15-37 29-42 59.

EAU CLAIRE MEMORIAL (61)

Crystal Walker 1-4 2-9 5, Atty Klingensmith 1-4 0-0 3, Bekka Lundquist 2-9 5-8 9, Lindsey Scheible 1-5 2-2 4, Amanda Buchholz 8-12 5-8 21, Joanna Leafblad 3-7 4-4 11, Greta Fiedler 1-1 2-4 4, Kristy Helgoe 0-3 0-0 0, Lisa Petermann 1-1 2-4 4. Totals 18-46 22-39 61.

Eau Claire North 11 11 14 14 9 -- 59

Eau Claire Memorial 14 14 12 10 11 -- 61

3-point goals: North 0-5 (S.Aspen 0-2, Reber 0-1, B.Aspen 0-1, Gehring 0-1), Memorial 3-9 (Walker 1-2, Leafblad 1-4, Klingensmith 1-1, Lundquist 0-2). Rebounds: North 44 (Gehring 5), Memorial 36 (Buchholz 7). Fouls: North 25, Memorial 26. Fouled out: North, Johnson, Robinson; Memorial, Klingensmith, Lundquist. Turnovers: North 19, Memorial 14.

RECORDS: Memorial 6-3, 9-4; North 8-2, 12-3.

Beaudry can be reached evenings at 833-9212 or (800) 236-7077.