Netzley leads Wheaton Academy to comeback win
With the playoffs just around the corner, Wheaton Academy couldn't have asked for a better outcome Monday night.
With rival St. Francis up by 10 points with 3:41 left to play, the Warriors used a furious rally to pull out a thrilling 53-50 nonconference win over the visiting Spartans (16-10). Down the stretch Jamie Netzley and Elizabeth Melby each knocked down clutch 3-pointers, and Wheaton Academy also used some hot free-throw shooting while the Spartans struggled from the free-throw line.
"It was fun. It's a fun game to play before playoffs," Warriors coach Beth Mitchell said after the stunning turnaround helped avenge a loss earlier this season at St. Francis. "I think people just stepped up. We obviously had a lot of foul trouble. We found a way to get some other people involved in the game and they came up with some big plays."
It was a total team effort for the Warriors (15-8), who had two players foul out and also had to deal with Melby and her four fouls after three quarters of play.
Freshman Antwainette Walker, who finished the night with 20 points and 14 rebounds, helped St. Francis appear to take control with a 44-34 lead with less than four minutes left. But Netzley delivered a monster fourth quarter, Melby delivered a clutch 3 with 25 seconds left to play to cut the deficit to 50-48, and then a steal of the inbounds pass and a layup from Netzley tied the score at 50. Netzley scored 15 of her team-leading 17 points in the second half.
St. Francis then had two chances to take the lead, but after a pair of misses Walker tried to save the ball while going out of bounds and her pass ended up in the hands of Melby, who sank what proved to be the winning free throw with 5.1 seconds left. Two more Netzley free throws in the final second sealed the win as the hosts made 21 of 26 free throws on the night while St. Francis made just 11 of 29 attempts.
"I just really wanted a win and I know my team wanted a win," said Melby, who finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds. "We just knew we had to fight. Man we're just so excited for regionals now. It's going to be a blast coming off this win."
The game was tight throughout. It was tied at the end of each of the first two quarters, and the Warriors led 32-31 after three quarters of play. But the visitors, who had plenty of offensive rebounds from Walker and Reagan Sprout, used a 13-2 charge capped by a fastbreak bucket from Leah Riccolo to open the quarter and build the 10-point lead.
That's when Netzley started the comeback with a 3-pointer and in a blur, the senior guard scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, including six free throws without a miss.
"First of all they did a great job," St. Francis coach Mike Phillips said. "Netzley was phenomenal in the fourth quarter. She's got a great will to win. Take nothing away from Wheaton Academy, they played a great game, but we just didn't put together the good team game like we've been doing the last couple of weeks."