Winn's buzzer beater powers Lady Savage Heat to 48-47 victory
LILY WINN goes up for her game-winning shot for Hot Springs. (John Dowd/Clark Fork Valley Press)
COACH RICHARD Jackson giving his girls the “talk” that rounded them together for a victory against Seeley last Friday night. (John Dowd/Clark Fork Valley Press)
SAGE JACKSON (22) works her way around Seeley-Swan’s defense last Friday night. (John Dowd/Clark Fork Valley Press)
A buzzer beater from 5-foot-9-inch sophomore Lily Winn gave the Lady Savage Heat from Hot Springs a 48-47 win over Seeley Swan.
Hot Springs center McKennzie Cannon had just fouled out and head coach Richard Jackson put in Winn.
After a rebound by Seeley, the Savage Heat got ahold of the ball and threw it to Winn, who ran it from half court to score a layup at the buzzer for Hot Springs.
“Everybody on my bench gave me solid minutes,” Jackson said. “Look at Lily Winn. She wasn’t warmed up, I threw her in there because Mac fouled out. She (Lilly) is in there with less than a minute, and they (Seeley-Swan) go up one. We run the ball down, she gets the ball and the only two points of the game for her is the game winning shot. When you’ve got kids who come off the bench and play like that, it is something special.”
The game was close throughout. Hot Springs led 17-14 as twin sisters Sage Jackson, a 5-foot-6-inch senior, and 5-foot-4-inch senior Sydney Jackson each hitting 3-pointers.
Seeley tied the game at 17-17 before Katelyn Christensen, a Hot Springs sophomore, took the lead back with another 3-pointer making it 23-22. Seeley’s 15-0 run made it 37-23 at the half.
Hot springs trimmed the lead a bit in the third quarter, Seeley still led 43-32.
At this point Coach Jackson called a timeout where he sat his team down and delivered an empassioned speech that changed the game.
“Feel the energy out here. You’ve fought too hard to let it get away,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to control the rebounding. We’ve got them where we want them. We have the momentum. We win as a team and we lose as a team and this one we’re not going to lose.”
Seeley only scored four more poins the rest of the way and Hot Springs eventually tied it at 46-46 with two minutes left as Christensen hit a layup and followed with a 3-pointer.
Seeley had several attempts at free throws, but only scored only one, opening the door for Winn’s miracle shot. “Yeah, I’m so thrilled and tickled right now, and I told the girls in the locker room if there was any kind of a Christmas present to be getting, that was mine,” Jackson said. “That’s all I want for Christmas is the way they fought back and presenting themselves the way they played.”
Jackson credited his teams’ ability at the free throw line after hitting 10 of 16.
Hot Springs is back in action at Mission Jan. 2 and their next home game will be against Valley Christian Jan. 3.