Lady Hornets upset Sayre in NTL Showdown semis

By: Ed Weaver  /  February 11, 2017

A buzzer-beating three-pointer from junior Lizzie Poirier gave the Wellsboro Girls Basketball team a 50-48 win over Sayre in the NTL Showdown semi-finals on Friday, February 10.

"We had a play to get Lizzie open for the last shot but Sayre played it well," said head coach John Davis. "Thankfully she was able to create off the dribble to put us ahead at the buzzer."

"It was crazy, I'm still in shock," Poirier said after the win. "I came off the screen, took a drible and heaved it. it was the worst form shot I have every teaken! Props to Jessica Grab for the assist!"

After leading 18-5 early, Sayre chipped away gradually at Wellsboro's lead. The Lady Redskins outscoring Wellsboro 12-6 in the second to cut the lead to 26-17 at halftime, and pulled with 10, 40-30, after three quarters of play. An 18-point fourth brought Sayre back as Chloe Tracy stole the ball and converted a layup to go ahead 48-47 with 20 seconds remaining.

Wellsboro had a shot to win, but missed, and Sayre grabbed the rebound, but missed the front end of the following one-and-one, giving the ball back to Wellsboro with 8 seconds left for Poirier's game-winning shot.

"Our girls played hard from start to finish," continued Davis. "That was a great team we played tonight (20-2 coming in) and even though we jumped on them early, I knew it would come down to the final minutes. However, I didn't know it would come down to the last second. Great game by both teams."

Poirier led Wellsboro with 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assits; junior Rachael Tuttle had 8 points and 15 rebounds; senior Janessa Davis scored 8 points and had 3 steals; senior Autum Kitajima scored 7 points and grabbed 5 rebounds; Grab had 5 points; sophomore Emma Poirier had 4 points; and freshman Cathryn Brought rounded out the scoring with 2 points.

Tuttle and Grab recorded blocked shots, Grab had 4 assists and 7 rebounds, and Kitajima added 3 steals.

The win advances the Lady Hornets to the Showdown title game where they'll take on Athens for the third time this season. Both teams split their regular season matchups.

Tip-off starts at 6:00 p.m. at Mansfield University's Decker Gym.