1999/2000 Game Results Last Updated: January 29, 2000

January 28, 2000  

North 56, Memorial 59, Overtime

Leafblad gets hot in clutch

Blocked shot, OT 3-pointer push Abes to payback win

By Mark Andrew Trapani Leader-Telegram staff

Joanna Leafblad picked the perfect moment to break out of shooting slump.

Emilee Planert Leader-Telegram Photo

The Eau Claire Memorial junior buried a key 3-pointer from the top of the key in overtime Friday night to help lead the Old Abes’ girls basketball team past intracity rival Eau Claire North 59-56 at the Doghouse.

The win propelled Memorial into sole possession of second place in the Big Rivers Conference standings and dropped North into a third-place tie with Chippewa Falls.

Junior center Larissa Parr led North with 17 points. Nicki Robinson, who had to leave the game after suffering a blow to the head late in the second half, added 13 points for the Huskies.

With 3 minutes, 42 seconds remaining in overtime and the Huskies (6-3, 10-4) leading 53-51, Leafblad, who had missed her four other 3-point attempts during the contest, connected on a trifecta to give the Old Abes (7-2, 12-2) the lead.

As the ball filtered its way through the bottom of the net, Leafblad shouted and plunged her fist into the air in celebration.

"I was a little frustrated," Leafblad said. "I haven’t been making my 3s the last few games. But I just decided to go for it."

And it turned out to be the right decision.

The shot started an 8-3 Memorial run to close the game (which saw four ties and seven lead changes) and seemed to energize the Old Abes, who led 35-29 at halftime.

"She hit that at the right time," said Memorial point guard Bekka Lundquist, who finished with eight points. "She’s been struggling a little bit.

"Everybody has those times. But we had confidence that it was going to go down and it did."

Memorial coach Steve Smith was impressed with Leafblad’s perseverance.

"That was huge," Smith said of her 3-point basket in overtime. "We had a lot of kids make a lot of big plays tonight. That’s just the kind of team we are. We’re pretty unselfish."

Leafblad, who scored six of her team-high 14 points during the overtime period, was just as instrumental in the Abes’ win on the defensive side. The 5-foot-8 guard sent the game to overtime by blocking the Huskies’ final shot attempt.

With two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the score tied at 51, Huskies senior guard Scooter Aspen attempted to launch a shot from inside the lane toward the basket, but she couldn’t.

Leafblad stepped in front of the ball and slapped it toward the sideline. The Huskies tried to get off one last attempt but failed when they fumbled the ball out of bounds as the buzzer sounded.

North coach Dan Sippel, who had his team run more than a 80 seconds off the clock before calling a timeout with four seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, struggled to find appropriate words after the game.

"It’s pretty tough," Sippel said. "We had what we wanted. All we had to do was execute, and the game was ours instead of theirs.

"We had the ball at the end (of regulation); they didn’t. You’ve got to be able to finish it off when you get the chance. We just weren’t able to do it."

Kricket Whyte fights for the ball Leader-Telegram Photo

In the earlier meeting between the teams this season, the Huskies made the big shots and big defensive stands as they defeated Memorial 49-46 at the Eagles Nest on Dec. 10.

The Abes returned the favor Friday night.

"This is huge," Leafblad said of beating the Huskies. "It’s such a thrill. We’ve been looking forward to this ever since we played them the first time.

"I was a little apprehensive. I didn’t know whether or not we were going to pull it out, but we worked together so well, and everything worked out."

Smith found a little justice in his team’s victory.

"You’ve got two teams that are pretty evenly matched," he said. "The difference between this game and the first one was that this time we got the defensive stop."

EAU CLAIRE MEMORIAL (59)

FG-A FT-A TP: Bekka Lundquist 3-11 0-0 8, Carrie Bohlig 0-1 0-0 0, Joanna Leafblad 4-11 5-7 14, Melissa Kaiser 3-6 0-0 6, Molly Menard 1-3 1-2 3, Greta Fiedler 3-9 3-4 9, Becca Carstensen 2-7 1-3 5, Amanda Buchholz 3-5 2-2 8, Bekah Howard 2-4 0-0 4, Jess Huettl 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 22-58 12-18 59.

EAU CLAIRE NORTH (56)

Anne Connell 0-0 2-2 2, Beth Hoenisch 0-1 0-0 0, Kricket Whyte 2-6 3-4 7, Scooter Aspen 3-12 0-0 7, Nicki Robinson 5-12 2-4 13, Lindsey Rongstad 0-3 0-0 0, Emilee Planert 3-15 4-5 10, Larissa Parr 7-18 3-3 17, Gretchen Schroer 0-1 0-0 0, Andrea Thorsness 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-68 14-18 56.

3-point goals: Memorial 3-11 (Lundquist 2-4, Leafblad 1-5, Kaiser 0-1, Howard 0-1), North 2-13 (Robinson 1-2, Aspen 1-5, Rongstad 0-1, Hoenisch 0-1, Parr 0-4). Rebounds: Memorial 46 (Carstensen 7, Buchholz 7), North 42 (Aspen 9). Fouls: Memorial 14, North 16. Turnovers: Memorial 14, North 7.

RECORDS: Memorial 7-2, 12-2; North 6-3, 10-4.