Geneva stuns Batavia with 3 free throws in final second

When you win the last two state championships on last-second shots, the bar is set pretty high for unforgettable finishes.

But the Geneva Vikings added another wild one Friday night at rival Batavia.

With Batavia junior Erin Golden seemingly erasing Geneva's 11-point fourth quarter lead almost by herself, the Vikings answered with their backs against the wall.

Trailing 42-40 after Golden's 2 free throws with 3.2 seconds left, Katie Montgomery threw a long pass that Lindsay Blackmore caught near half court.

Blackmore turned and fired a desperation 3-pointer under heavy pressure and was hit on her shooting arm with just .8 seconds left, giving her three free throws.

With the Batavia gym as loud as it could get, Blackmore calmly sank all three free throws for a 43-42 win.

"Loud environment, fun to play in, but just block everything out and focus on what you know how to do," Blackmore said. "It (the play) was exactly how we planned it."

Batavia (6-8, 1-2 in the DuKane Conference) had done a tremendous job on Blackmore, holding Geneva's leading scorer to 4 points with aggressive double teams in the post.

But Blackmore was able to shake off the cold night and keep Geneva (8-2, 3-0) perfect in conference by draining all three pressure free throws.

"She struggled all night," Vikings coach Sarah Meadows said. "Some of those baskets were half down and popped out. She's going to have that all year long. People are going to come at her every single game. It's no secrete who our best kid is. They're going to double, triple her. For her to step up and drill them, she wasn't even phased. Great leadership out of her."

Meadows tabbed Montgomery to throw the pass because of her success as the goalie on the Vikings' soccer team.

"Definitely in soccer I've had to make those throws," Montgomery said. "So when Meadows kind of told me we're going to need you to do this, I was all right, let's envision a little soccer field here and we're going to do it.

"I have a lot of trust in Lindsey as a player and a person and I knew if I put it in her range she was going to be able to grab that ball. She can do everything. Her composure was outstanding tonight."

Until the crazy last play, the story of the game looked like it would be Batavia's fourth quarter comeback without a pair of injured starters, Geddy Rerko and Hailey Orman.

Trailing 37-26 after three quarters, Golden got the comeback started with a pair of drives. Ava Sergio's spin move in the lane followed by her putback cut Geneva's lead to 37-34 with 3:40 left.

Geneva made just 1 of 7 shots in the fourth quarter and turned the ball over 6 times. That one make was a 3-pointer from Cassidy Navigato for a 40-34 lead.

But the Bulldogs kept coming. Two free throws from Golden and then another Golden basket made it 40-38 with 1:24 to go.

Geneva missed a 1-and-1, and Sergio scored inside with 38 seconds left to tie the game at 40.

After the Vikings again turned the ball over, Golden rebounded a missed shot and got fouled going back up. Her two free throws - she was 6 of 6 at the line while scoring 10 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth - looked like it would make her the hero and Batavia a winner.

"Erin makes the type of plays a college basketball player makes," Batavia coach Kevin Jensen said. "Couldn't be prouder of her. She made two clutch free throws at the end that looked like it would be enough. I thought we did (have it won). I think a lot of people thought we had it won. It was an incredible run at the end."

Golden also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Sergio had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, and freshman Claire Nazos scored 8 as the three combined for all but 2 of Batavia's points.

Geneva was more balanced led by Katherine Palmer (11 points), Blackmore (7 points, 9 rebounds), Grace Hinchman (6 points, 5 rebounds), Navigato (6 points) and Zosia Wrobel (6 points).

"We tell the kids the whole week it's hard to play in this gym," Meadows said. "For us it's a W. We're taking it."