Sunday, February 27, 2000

Foul line woes don't stop TC

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

SHELBY -- It's a sure bet Columbian's girls will be practicing their foul shooting this week.

But then, coach Larry Kisabeth is happy they'll get the chance.

That's because the Tornadoes were a paltry 3-of-10 Saturday from the foul line in the fourth quarter, the same period that Mansfield Madison's Carrie Ritchie poured in 14 of her game-high 22 points to help the Rams climb back from a 13-point deficit before falling 48-44 in the Division I sectional title game at Shelby.

The sectional title was Columbian's third in a row and fifth in the last seven seasons, but the Tornadoes' free throw woes almost stopped the streak.

"Free throw shooting has really slipped on us here in the last three weeks," Kisabeth said after his Tornadoes moved to 18-3 on the year. "Normally, when we go to our delay game, we know it's money in the bank.

"Tonight, we went to the delay game to try to take the momentum away (from Madison's comeback attempt) and it almost cost us because we did not shoot well from the foul line."

He was right.

Columbian hit just nine of its 22 foul shots on the night, which included the 3-of-10 showing in the fourth quarter when they needed them the most.

The Tornadoes seemed to be in control of the game, riding the momentum of Katie Fazekas' halftime buzzer-beating 3-pointer to go up 21-20 before outscoring the Rams 16-4 in the third to grab a 37-24 lead.

But that's when Ritchie and the Rams (14-8) came alive.

Ritchie nailed a trey from the left baseline and Bethany Brafford hit a pair of foul shots after a Columbian turnover to trim the deficit to 37-29.

Katie Kobelt scored off a drive from the left wing to put the Tornadoes back on top by 10 with 6:48 to play.

But the Rams got to within 39-36 off a jumper from the key and a 3-pointer from the wing by Ritchie and two more foul shots by Brafford at the 5:07 mark.

A Fazekas jumper from the foul line with five minutes left in the fourth quarter gave Columbian a 41-36 advantage, but Ritchie sandwiched a 3-pointer from the key and a jumper from the left elbow around a low post bucket by the Tornadoes' Anna Fretz to cut Columbian's lead to 43-41 with 3:37 to play.

Erin Moore turned one of her four rebounds into a bucket at the 3:18 mark to put Columbian up by four.

Brafford scored and was fouled on a drive 18 seconds later and had a chance to bring Madison to within a point but she missed a foul and Columbian maintained a 45-43 edge.

The Tornadoes tried to slow things down, using their delay offense to run 61 seconds off the clock before the Rams started to foul.

Madison had to foul four times before putting the Tornadoes in the bonus and on the foul line with 1:42 to go.

That's when the Tornadoes struggled.

Moore missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Madison went downcourt trying to narrow the gap.

Fretz pulled down a rebound, was fouled and hit a free throw to give Columbian a 46-43 lead with 1:19 to go.

Then the Tornadoes really went cold at the line, missing their next four foul shots.

Luckily for Columbian, Mansfield had its own problems.

Brafford fouled out, taking away the Rams' inside game; Renee Reid missed two foul shots that would have brought Madison to within a point; the Rams turned the ball over on their own end of the court with 19.8 seconds to go while trailing by three (46-43); and Katie Calhoun missed the front end of a 1-and-1 foul shot after being fouled with 8.7 seconds to play.

Luck looked to be on Madison's side on her miss, though, with Ritchie grabbing the rebound and getting fouled on a shot attempt.

She made her first free throw, but missed the second and Columbian took possession off a jump ball with a 46-44 lead and 6.5 ticks left on the clock.

Madison's last ditch effort to get the ball back resulted in Fazekas going to the foul line, where she sank two shots with 3.4 seconds to play to secure the 48-44 victory.

Those last two foul shots gave Fazekas 11 points on the night to go with the 12 scored by Fretz and the 11 netted by Moore.

Fretz also hauled in seven rebounds and Fazekas and Kobelt each passed out three assists.

Ritchie was Ms. Everything for the Rams, grabbing a game-high eight boards to go with her game-high 22 points.

"Carrie Ritchie had an outstanding fourth quarter," Kisabeth said.

Ritchie's own coach, Andy Booth, agreed.

"The bottom line was Carrie Ritchie decided to put another level (of play) on her back. She decided the season wasn't going to go down without a fight," Booth said. "I think she put on one of the best high school girls performances in a tough situation that I've seen in a long time."

But she was the only Ram to score in double digits.

Jillian Firestone and Brafford each ended with eight points and no other Madison player scored more than two points.

The victory advances Columbian to the Division I District at Hopewell-Loudon, where the Tornadoes will battle Celina, which beat Lima 40-35 Saturday.