Harrison scores career-high, Huskies fall to Tigers in overtime, 58-54

After being tied at the end of regulation, the Tiger were able to pull ahead of the Huskies in overtime. Senior guard Bridget Harrison finished with 20 points.

Ben Brown, Sports Editor

After falling behind in the fourth quarter, the Huskies called a timeout with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter in their matchup on the road against the Blue Valley High School Tigers. In Friday’s game, the Huskies were trailing 50-45 coming out of the timeout.

In need of points, BVNW turned to a senior guard, Bridget Harrison. Harrison had hit five 3-pointers in the game before this point, and she wasted no time as her teammates found her open on the perimeter. Harrison did exactly what she had done all game, convert on her shots from the arc. On this shot, Harrison surpassed her career-high in points by increasing her total for the night to 20, and she put the Huskies back within a one possession game with the Tigers.

Trailing 50-48, BVNW was able to pick up a couple of much needed stops on defense. With just around a minute left in the game, junior Madison Gerard came through in a big way for the Huskies. Gerard got an offensive rebound, and equalized the game with a putback layup.

In a 50-50 tie with little time left, neither team was able to find anything offensively. After an unsuccessful last shot by BVNW as time expired, the Huskies and Tigers found themselves tied after regulation. Head coach Brian Bubalo said his team was able to find ways to mount a late comeback.

“I was real happy with the way we fought back,” Bubalo said. “We did some different things and got back in the game.”

A four minute overtime would decide which team would walk away from the EKL game victorious.

At the start of overtime, the Tigers jumped out early after making a couple of shots inside. If the Huskies were going to win, they were going to have to play catch up similar to the fourth quarter. The Huskies were able to tack on some baskets and create some steals defensively after pressuring the ball.

However due to the deficit, BVNW was forced to start fouling which sent players to the line. A Blue Valley player went to the line with just seconds left in the game with a 57-54 lead. She was able to knock down one of her free throws which solidified a 58-54 win for the Blue Valley Tigers.  

Earlier in the game, the Huskies and the Tigers seemed to be well-matched as a majority of the first and second quarter was back and forth with neither team able to pull away from the other.

The spark for the Huskies for the game was Harrison as she continually hit 3-pointers. Bubalo said the team was able to recognize this and look for passes to Harrison.

“She works hard to get open, and the girls get her the ball,” Bubalo said. “I thought she took good shots.”

Powered by 12 points from Harrison, the Huskies went into the half with a 25-23 lead. BVNW had some problems coming out of the half as Blue Valley were able to reclaim a 44-36 after three quarters of play.

Though the Huskies would go on to lose, Harrison finished with a career-high 20 points, 18 of which came from 3-pointers.

“It felt pretty good to be shooting well. It kind of sucks the outcome of the game,” Harrison said.

The Huskies fall to 7-11 with the loss. The girls will host Saint Thomas Aquinas on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.