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Winning on the last shot - Onalaska over Big Sandy 47-45

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Big Sandy Vs Onalaska 11 23 2020

by Brian Beusch

Onalaska scored in the final seconds to take a two-point advantage and eventually the game over Big Sandy 47-45 in a Monday matinee by the lake.

With a 45-43 lead, Onalaska held a possession for over a minute draining it to 1:30. Once Big Sandy regained the basketball, sophomore Alexis Thompson was fouled and made two free throws to tie the game at 45. 

Onalaska (3-3) made their final opportunity count, as Kierra Anstee’s missed layup was followed by Maddie Stelck with eight seconds to go for the game winner. 

After being down for the majority of the game, Onalaska took a one-point lead with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter at 29-28. The lead would change hands a few more times before the final whistle.

“Honestly, we are just looking for some consistency,” Onalaska coach Ashley Sustaita said. “We have been pushing and asking for some consistency in their play. I kind of took some roles away from some kids in the first half to kind of prove some points. We went back to our original substitution for our third quarter, so we saw some things that we were used to. They have definitely formed some bonds with their groups, as far as subbing. They looked a little more comfortable in the second half. We know what they can do, I just want them to believe they can do the same thing.”

The catalyst in starting the Onalaska offense was the press, which began to create points off of turnovers in the second half.

“Our biggest thing is starting to adjust, based off of what teams give us,” Sustaita said. “I thought that we did a good job finally today of adjusting our press to fit what they had. That is something they're going to have to do every single night. That is our bread and butter and what we want to do.”

Leading for a large portion of the game, a lack of depth for the visitors seemed to begin taking its toll. The Lady Cats had just seven suited up in purple for the contest, with a handful of players out for various reasons.

“We should have gotten a stop at the end, but they (Onalaska) are a good team and they work hard,” Big Sandy coach Ryan Alec said. “I knew coming into the game that they were going to do a good job defensively. It is always a battle when you come to Onalaska and they are going to get after us and play hard and work hard. We had to earn all the points that we had with the players we had on the floor.”

Onalaska’s Anstee led all scores with 17 points, Kylie Sisk and Stelck each had eight, and Jordyn Shutter scored six. Savannah Hoffman led Big Sandy with 15 points, Faith Geller had 11, Thompson had nine and Baili Mitchell added eight.

For Big Sandy (3-1), the loss Monday was the first of their season.

“We've played really well over the past three games,” Alec said. “We played at Coldspring and then we played at home versus East Chambers and on Saturday we played at Kirbyville. We won all three games by a pretty good margin and in those three games, we played extremely well. In this game, points were hard to come by and we didn't score as many as we did over there. We shot the ball really well in those games and didn't execuWinning on last shot

Onalaska scored in the final seconds to take a two-point advantage and eventually the game over Big Sandy 47-45 in a Monday matinee by the lake.

With a 45-43 lead, Onalaska held a possession for over a minute draining it to 1:30. Once Big Sandy regained the basketball, sophomore Alexis Thompson was fouled and made two free throws to tie the game at 45. 

Onalaska (3-3) made their final opportunity count, as Kierra Anstee’s missed layup was followed by Maddie Stelck with eight seconds to go for the game winner. 

After being down for the majority of the game, Onalaska took a one-point lead with 4:20 remaining in the third quarter at 29-28. The lead would change hands a few more times before the final whistle.

“Honestly, we are just looking for some consistency,” Onalaska coach Ashley Sustaita said. “We have been pushing and asking for some consistency in their play. I kind of took some roles away from some kids in the first half to kind of prove some points. We went back to our original substitution for our third quarter, so we saw some things that we were used to. They have definitely formed some bonds with their groups, as far as subbing. They looked a little more comfortable in the second half. We know what they can do, I just want them to believe they can do the same thing.”

The catalyst in starting the Onalaska offense was the press, which began to create points off of turnovers in the second half.

“Our biggest thing is starting to adjust, based off of what teams give us,” Sustaita said. “I thought that we did a good job finally today of adjusting our press to fit what they had. That is something they're going to have to do every single night. That is our bread and butter and what we want to do.”

Leading for a large portion of the game, a lack of depth for the visitors seemed to begin taking its toll. The Lady Cats had just seven suited up in purple for the contest, with a handful of players out for various reasons.

“We should have gotten a stop at the end, but they (Onalaska) are a good team and they work hard,” Big Sandy coach Ryan Alec said. “I knew coming into the game that they were going to do a good job defensively. It is always a battle when you come to Onalaska and they are going to get after us and play hard and work hard. We had to earn all the points that we had with the players we had on the floor.”

Onalaska’s Anstee led all scores with 17 points, Kylie Sisk and Stelck each had eight, and Jordyn Shutter scored six. Savannah Hoffman led Big Sandy with 15 points, Faith Geller had 11, Thompson had nine and Baili Mitchell added eight.

For Big Sandy (3-1), the loss Monday was the first of their season.

“We've played really well over the past three games,” Alec said. “We played at Coldspring and then we played at home versus East Chambers and on Saturday we played at Kirbyville. We won all three games by a pretty good margin and in those three games, we played extremely well. In this game, points were hard to come by and we didn't score as many as we did over there. We shot the ball really well in those games and didn't execte quite as well today.”

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