Columbus makes the last big play in back-and-forth battle

GILMAN GIRLS BASKETBALL

The Gilman Pirates cleaned up many of their turnover issues, outrebounded Columbus Catholic by nearly a two-toone margin and shot the basketball fairly well.

Yet, it still wasn’t enough to earn what would have been a big road win Thursday night.

Columbus Catholic got 27 points from forward Jenna Kibbel, including 19 in the first half alone, got on two key hot streaks from the field and got a huge defensive play in the final seconds from junior guard Lily Stratman to hold on for a 57-55 win over the Pirates in an Eastern Cloverbelt Conference thriller.

It was a result that’s been all too common for the Pirates in recent years as Gilman teams have now lost five games in the Columbus gym by four points or less in the past seven seasons and are 0-12 on that floor since Gilman joined the Eastern side of the conference in the 2010-11 season.

“It didn’t go as planned on Thursday, but I am very proud of the girls,” Gilman head coach Tammy Weir said. “They left it all on the court. We outrebounded them, we took care of the ball with only 11 turnovers, we shot 41% from the field, 83% from the line. I just couldn’t have asked for anything more. I am so very proud of them. The cards just weren’t in our favor, but we are doing everything right.”

Gilman rallied from a 12-point firsthalf deficit to lead by as many as seven in the second half. The loss dropped the Pirates to 2-3 in conference play and 2-5 overall, while Columbus held on to third place in the league’s early-season standings, going to 3-1, 4-3.

Columbus built its early lead with the first of its two big shooting runs. An Aubrey Syryczuk 3-pointer got Gilman within 12-8 and Tatum Weir scored inside to make it 14-10. But the Lady Dons went on a 12-4 surge and threatened to run away with it. Kibbel had seven points in the run, including a 3-pointer and Grace Wilczek added five, also hitting a 3.

But Gilman’s defense settled in after that and the offense chipped away in the last six minutes of the first half, starting with Weir’s three-point play on a little runner and Emma Grunseth’s 15-foot jumper. Weir’s free throws and Grunseth’s offensive rebound and putback cut the deficit to 26-23.

Weir and Grunseth both finished with double-doubles. Weir had 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Grunseth had 14 points and 11 boards.

Weir scored to finish a perfect press break to pull the Pirates within 28-27, she later hit one of two free throws and Grunseth scored off a Madisyn James assist in the final seconds to give the Pirates a 30-28 halftime lead.

James hit a 3-pointer to open the second-half scoring and hit another moments later to open up a 36-30 lead. Gilman answered a Hailey Zimmerman 3 with buckets from Ava Warner, Syryczuk and Kya Dietzler to pull ahead 42-35 with just over 11 minutes to play.

But that lead vanished in less than three minutes as Kibbel scored three times inside and Sam Casperson drilled two 3-pointers in a 12-0 run that put Columbus back on top 47-42.

The lead stayed between three and five points until James drilled a triple with 1:08 left to make it 55-53. The Pirates trapped Stratman along the sideline and got her to double dribble with 47 seconds left and Grunseth got fouled on the ensuing possession. She made the clutch free throws to tie it with 33.8 seconds to play. But Zimmerman countered with two free throws of her own with 25.7 seconds left to break the tie. That left the Pirates with plenty of time to tie the game or take the lead.

That effort was nearly foiled by a turnover, but James saved the ball from going out of bounds on the right sideline, and flipped it to Grunseth, who found Syryczuk, who had what appeared to be an open shot from the left block with eight seconds to go. But Stratman cut across the lane and blocked the shot from Syryczuk’s right side. The Dons finally grabbed the loose ball and got an outlet pass across midcourt before Gilman could foul to stop the clock.

James finished with nine points while making three of eight 3-point attempts. She had three rebounds and two assists. Syryczuk had seven points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

“She did a great job taking care of the ball,” coach Weir said.

Dietzler and Warner had two points each. Grunseth had four assists and two steals and Weir blocked three shots and added two assists and two steals.

“She took it strong inside and was nine for 11 from the line,” Tammy Weir said.

As a team, the Pirates made 15 of 18 free throws and 14 of 34 two-point shots (41.2%). They were four of 15 from long range (26.7%). They outrebounded Columbus 40-21, but the Dons’ seven offensive rebounds seemed to all come at key times.

Wilczek had nine points for Columbus and Stratman and Casperson scored six each.

Gilman hosted Owen-Withee Tuesday in a game played after this week’s early holiday deadline for The Star News. The Pirates will host Augusta Tuesday, Dec. 28 in a 6 p.m. varsity-only non-conference game.

“If we continue to play like this, we have a great, fun season ahead,” Tammy Weir said.

Emma Grunseth