with thrilling 44-42 victory
BY ED WRIGHT
Feb. 13, 2010,
12:15 p.m.
Friday night's
Salem-Northville girls basketball game was in doubt for 31 minutes and
59 seconds.
The Rocks were finally able to let out a deep sigh of relief --
and celebrate a hard-fought 44-42 victory -- when a last-second Mustang
layup missed the mark.
"I wasn't relieved as much as I was thinking, 'Yeah! We won,"
said Salem coach Fred Thomann, regarding the Mustangs' uncontested,
final-second look that rolled off the rim.
"The girls played very hard tonight. We're going through
kind of rough stretch when we're not making as many shots as we did
earlier in the year, but hopefully we can get that straightened out."
The win lifted Salem to 11-5 overall and 8-2 in the KLAA Central
Division. Northville slipped to 8-8 and 5-5, respectively.
In all likelihood, the Rocks will play at Plymouth in a KLAA
first-round tournament contest Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m.
Senior forward Rachel Norman led a balanced Salem offensive
attack with 13 points. Brett de Bear contributed 10 points while Sara
Stone added eight points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
Heidi Schmidt and Tabitha Mann scored five each. Schmidt and
Alyssa Garbarino both connected on a pair of clutch free throws down
the stretch to give the Rocks the two-point cushion.
Julie Ramey topped an even Northville ledger with nine points.
Tori Wright, Katie Giacomini and Sarah Tuohy all twined eight.
Salem led the seasaw showdown 10-9 after one quarter before
Northville bounced back to secure a 21-20 lead at the half. The Rocks
led 34-33 with eight minutes to play.
The Rocks were nearly flawless from the free throw line, sinking
12 of 14.
