Home Athletics Buzzer-Beaters and Army Crawls, The Winning Recipe

Buzzer-Beaters and Army Crawls, The Winning Recipe

by Jordan Wood

Through all of the ups and downs and twists and turns, for one night, it all seemed worth it for Blackburn women’s basketball team.

On Feb. 1, 2017, the women headed to Jacksonville to face off with their St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rival MacMurray, with a slightly different atmosphere because, for the first time all season, they were the favorites. They had a chip on their shoulders. They had the pressure. And they did not disappoint.

The game had been back and forth the whole night with seven ties and 14 lead changes, keeping the crowd – and the players – on the edge of their seats.

The events that followed were like a scene from a movie.

With just under two minutes on the clock in the fourth quarter, the Beavers found themselves down 55-52 with numerous trips to the free throw line, but failed to capitalize on those opportunities going 0-8 down the stretch and 18-37 throughout the entire contest.

It was hard to ignore the faces. The players’ filled with adrenaline and nerves. The coaches and the brace faces they put on to mask their true fear. The fans’ excitement as they cheered their team to victory. The atmosphere was electric and it was impossible to hear the person next to you.

With barely 20 seconds left on the clock, Blackburn brought the ball down the court, called for their three-point play for their co-captain and conference player of the week Aleisha Stiltner. As she came around the screen in the corner, she received a perfect pass from Alexia Duncan and threw up the shot to tie the game. The bench erupted. Freshman guard Jordan Lackzowski pulled out an NBA army crawl right as Coach Fonseca began running down the sideline, tripping over her player, before popping up and urging her defense for a stop. The stop did not come.

Mac player Andie Marvel drove down the court and layed up a shot too, but her team, ahead 57-55, had only seven seconds left.

Once again, Blackburn brought the ball up the court with the chance for one last shot. Duncan sprinted up the floor and again hit Stiltner, this time on the wing, for one final shot and one final lead change. She hit a three-pointer with .5 seconds left on the clock for a 58-57 victory; the team’s first of the season.

After the game, Stiltner summed up what all of her teammates and coaches were thinking because that one moment, “made everything else worth it.”
*The author is a member of the Blackburn College’s women’s basketball team.

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