NORTH ROBINSON — One of the mantras the Colonel Crawford girls’ basketball team lives by is that the ball will find you in the right moment.
Friday night, the ball found Allison Weithman.
The Eagles had not scored for nearly 10 minutes in the second half and managed just seven points in the final two periods, as Carey came back from nine down to take a 31-30 lead with 36.8 seconds left in the game.
Then, the ball found Weithman.
The senior was fouled shooting the ball and got two free throws with just 19.2 seconds left.
Weithman had ice water in her veins as she calmly knocked down the free throws in Colonel Crawford’s 32-31 win in a critical Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Friday night.
With the win, the Eagles improved to 2-1 in the conference and 7-1 overall. The Blue Devils fell to 2-1 in the conference, 4-1 overall.
Colonel Crawford coach Zac Bauer said that Weithman stepped up when the opportunity presented itself.
“I have to shout out to Allison Weithman,” Bauer said. “She didn’t shoot the ball well from the floor, she struggled in the first half and then she steps in there and never blinks and makes two big free throws for us to seal it, essentially.”
Weithman said that she was nervous as she stepped to the line to face the two largest shots of her career.
“I was, obviously, really nervous,” Weithman said. “But I knew, at practice, we work on it all the time, focus on it, focus on my form, using my legs and it went in and it surprised me.
“It felt so good. It felt good to help my team win.”
Both teams played stellar defense for most of the game, but the Blue Devils were terrific in the final two frames, holding the Eagles to just two of 17 shots in the second half.
“The credit goes to Carey,” Bauer said. “They play super hard, they’re a great defensive team, they’re physical and they have a good inside presence and that’s something that has given us problems early on in the season.
“They’re a physical inside team but I have to give our kids a lot of credit,” Bauer added. “They battled and they don’t get flustered, and they don’t get shaken. They are real poised and that’s a credit to them and their attitude. The mantra we carry with us is ‘I am, we are.’ We’re as good as any individual and the individual is only as good as the team around them.”
Carey coach Keith O’Flaherty said that his team was strong defensively but played very well in the second half.
“We held them to seven points in the whole second half,” O’Flaherty said. “We went in and made a little bit of changes defensively. We pulled out of our full court press; that was kinda hurting us in the first half because we gave them some easy buckets and we weren’t getting back on defense quick enough. We were getting wore out.
“So, we just picked them up at half court and put ball pressure on them and we started switching screens, which took their cutters away, so it helped us out that way.”
Colonel Crawford’s Mira Holt scored all 12 of her points in the first half, as the Eagles grabbed a 25-20 lead at halftime.
Crawford controlled the third period defensively, holding the Blue Devils to just an Ady Stewart free throw in the frame. While the Eagles didn’t take complete advantage in the period, scoring just five points, they were still able to take a 30-21 lead into the fourth period.
“We talked this week about this being a quality opponent and a game where we knew it was going to be close, or it could be a close game, and we talked about sticking to the game plan and being prepared and being ready for the moment,” Bauer said.
Mallory Plesac backed Holt with seven points for the Eagles.
Stewart led the Blue Devils with 11 points on the night while Rylee Row and Macy Wentling scored six points.
“We came back from quite a few down and scored quite a few points and got back into the game,” O’Flaherty said. “But we just came up one point short.”
Carey won the junior varsity game, 35-23. Parker Vackert led Carey with 13 points. Lexi Dure paced Colonel Crawford with seven.
Box score
Carey 10 10 1 10 — 31
Colonel Crawford 13 12 5 2 — 32
Carey (4-0, 2-0 N10): Shots 10-31; 3-pt. shots 2-5 (Macy Wentling, Ady Stewart); Free throws 9-13; Rebounds 31; Turnovers 13. Scoring: Rylee Row 2 2 6, Macy Wentling 1 3 6, Julia Brodman 1 0 2, Lexi Plott 2 1 5, Riley Yost 0 1 1, Ady Stewart 4 2 11.
Colonel Crawford (6-1, 1-1 N10): Shots 12-39; 3-pt. shots 2-13 (Mira Holt 2); Free throws 4-10; Rebounds 22; Turnovers 8. Scoring: Mallory Plesac 4 2 7, Mira Holt 5 0 12, Allison Weithman 0 3 3, Niyah Simpson 1 0 2, Lexi Dure 1 0 2, Ayla McKibben 3 0 6.
JV: Carey 35-23.