Prairie junior Lindsay Asplund still had confidence, an important attribute for a basketball player in a shooting slump.
So she was optimistic when she drove to the hoop late in Monday night’s game against Union, trailing by a point.
“I just knew if I kept shooting, eventually it would fall,” Asplund said. “I knew I had to drive and get a foul or something, even if it didn’t go in.”
Oh, it went in. Plus the foul.
Her three-point play with 17 seconds left turned into the game winner, lifting Prairie to a 53-51 non-league victory. The game featured six lead changes in the final quarter, including four in the final two minutes.
“Nice,” Asplund said, referring to the first game-winner of her career.
Nicole Goecke led Prairie with 16 points, and Cherita Daugherty added nine points, including a 3-pointer with 48 seconds left to give Prairie a 49-47 edge.
Tee Anderson came back seven seconds later with a 3-pointer of her own for the Titans, giving Union a 50-49 lead. Anderson finished with 19 points, going 12 of 14 from the free throw line.
Asplund’s big play was the final lead change, but there were scoring opportunities remaining. The Titans made one free throw with nine seconds left. Goecke, though, chased down a long rebound after the missed second free throw. Goecke passed it to Daugherty, who was fouled with 5 seconds to play and made the second of her two free throws.
It was the 10th board of the game for Goecke, who is “almost 5-9,” she said, and one of the tallest players on the team.
“It comes down to the little things we can do,” she said of boxing out. “The fundamentals are what we have to do when we’re small.”
After the free throw, Union’s Tessa Vanderpool dribbled to within 16 feet of the hoop and just missed her attempt to tie at the buzzer.
“A lot of people didn’t expect us to win this game after Skyview,” said Goecke, referring to Prairie’s loss in its first game of the season. (The Falcons did not play last week due weather cancellations.) “I don’t think we played that bad against Skyview. We just didn’t make our shots. We went back to work in practice, and I think we’ll keep getting a lot better.”
The shots weren’t falling for either team for much of this game. The defenses ruled, until the final five minutes.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to be in this type of game,” Union coach Roger Shepard said. “We have a tendency to win big or lose convincingly. A game like this will be good for us over the road. It’s hard to get past the moment, though. We’re disappointed. We thought we’d play better.”
Union also was without Jessica Chatman, who has not played this year due to a shoulder injury. Chatman, a Brigham Young University commit, said she expects to return to action soon.
The Falcons opened the game on a 9-0 run, the pressure defense causing Union problems.
“That’s our philosophy,” said first-year Prairie coach Brett Johnson after picking up his first win. “I read them our mission when I came into the summer. Defensive pressure. Our job is to get pressure.”
The Titans responded with eight points in a row to end the first period, trailing by two. The Prairie lead never grew beyond five points the rest of the game.
Union’s Grace Davis made four 3-pointers, including one with 1:45 to play to give the Titans a 47-46 lead. She finished with 12 points. Hannah O’Donnell also had 12 points for the Titans.
In the end, though, the Falcons made the last of the big plays, the one that ended a slump for one player and got a new coach his first victory.
PRAIRIE 53, UNION 52
PRAIRIE (1-1) — Nicole Goecke 16, Lindsey Asplund 6, Emily Peters 0, Jamie Phares 2, Jordan Adams 4, Cherita Daugherty 9, Natalie Whitesel 4, Grace Prom 5, Jozie Tangeman 7. Totals 15-54 (6-27) 17-22 53.
UNION (2-2) — Grace Davis 12, Tessa Vanderpool 1, Tee Anderson 19, Molly Petrie 2, Hannah O’Donnell 12, Katharine Williams 2, Abby Forsyth 0, Sarah Trostle 3. Totals 11-43 (7-23) 22-30 51.
Prairie 15 10 9 19–53
Union 13 11 7 20–51
JV — Prairie won.
