ANDOVER, Kan.—
The basketball season is a grind, and the Class 6A No. 3 Maize girls were feeling it heading into a battle with Class 5A No. 3 Andover that finished with a 46-40 win in overtime for Maize."I think at the beginning there were a couple players that just seemed a little out of it because it is a tough grind," Maize head coach Jerrod Handy said. "We had some of these officials at Emporia. They walked in and said 'holy cow I'm tired, (so) I know you guys must be tired."
That fatigue was apparent as Andover jumped out to an 18-14 lead at the half. Maize would answer back with a strong showing in the third quarter to take a one-point lead at 26-25 going into the final quarter.
The Andover girls responded and took a three-point lead late, but Paige Lungwitz would have her say still.
Lungwitz did not start the game scorching the nets, but she heated up at the right time. The Maize senior capitalized off of great ball movement to get an open look from the corner. She knocked down a three-pointer to send the game into overtime as the buzzer sounded.
"Paige was one of those that kind of started off really slow and then her intensity and her alertness really came around," Handy said. "I wanted her to get the ball. Give the girls credit because they just swung the ball back around the weak side and got her a shot in the corner."
In the overtime, Andover took a two-point lead at 36-34.
That lead would not last for long as the Keiryn Swenson show began.
Swenson went down early in the third quarter with a rolled ankle, but she did not show any ill effects in the overtime. Maize’s guards continually fed the ball down low to the six-foot-one freshman as she rattled off three straight baskets to give Maize a 40-36 lead.
"Our guards give them credit, because they went inside to her (Swenson). Not every guard has that much confidence in their post player to throw the ball in there in those critical situations," Handy said.
Swenson would ice the game late as she got behind the defense to score and put her team up by the winning margin of 46-40.
