Willard falls in OT in regional semis

LEXINGTON — So close, yet so far away.Willard led after each of the first three quarters and had a chance to win at the end of regulation.The Crimson Flashes could not cash in, and fell behind early in overtime.Despite falling 54-50 in overtime to Columbus Africentric in a Division III regional semifinal Wednesday at Lexington High School, No. 7 Willard proved itself more than worthy in the spot it was in."We were not afraid," Willard coach Barry Pfahl said. "We talked about courage and love. I thought we played with courage. We were out-heighted and out-quicked. We did not quit. We refused to give up."The Flashes finish the season at 21-4. Willard won its second straight district championship this season."I am proud of my kids," Pfahl said. "I am proud of the effort. I am proud of how hard they fought. I'm not sure at the beginning of the season until we played at Napoleon, I'm not sure anybody had a whole lot of respect for us. I think they established themselves as one of the best Willard girls teams ever. They did it with team work."Anylah Murphy and Maliyah Johnson each scored in the opening 45 seconds of overtime for the Nubians (11-2). After Grace Hall missed a 3 for Willard, Africentric milked the clock before Murphy was fouled with 1:31 left.Murphy split the two free throws for a 50-45 edge. Tristin Buurma scored on the other end for the Flashes, but three points was all the closer Willard would get. After Johnson split two free throws, the Flashes had a chance to cut into the lead, but Ariel Grace picked a steal and scored.Johnson split two free throws to push the Africentric lead to 54-47 with 16.4 seconds. Mckenna Stephens tallied a three-point play and the Nubians committed a turnover, but it was not enough for Willard."Part of it is you can work and work and work on something, but when you get to 32 minutes, we were getting tired," Pfahl said. "You get mentally tired and you have little breakdowns. You can't quite get to where you need to be. Then you don't see the things you need to see."The Flashes clung to a 35-33 lead after three quarters, but the opening half of the fourth quarter saw the teams exchange the lead back and forth. Two free throws by Stephens kept Willard ahead 41-40, but Arianna Smith hit two free throws and Murphy scored off of a steal for Africentric's first lead of more than a point.The Flashes kept on. Stephens made two more free throws with 1:20 left. The Flashes fouled Lyric Ransom with 43.7 seconds left and she missed the front end of the one-and-one. Tristin Buurma grabbed the rebound and Willard quickly moved up court. Stephens took the pass and cut through the lane before her jumper just inside the foul line gave the Flashes a 45-44 lead.After a Nubians timeout, Murphy drove the lane and was fouled by Kalli Sowers — her fifth foul. Murphy missed the first free throw, but made the second to tie the game with 13 seconds left. After the teams exchanged timeouts, Willard had a chance to win, but a turnover with 9.1 seconds stopped that hope. But, the Flashes forced Johnson into a tough shot at the buzzer, but it was no good."We just wanted to get the ball down the floor and it was going to be 1-4 low and get a shooter up," said Pfahl of Willard's last offensive possession. "Our best offense in that situation is to let Layla get down and get some penetration in the paint."A driving layup by Stephens and a free throw by Sowers gave Willard a 10-6 lead after one quarter. Layla Dials opened the second quarter with a driving layup and later, Stephens' driving layup and a jumper by Dials pushed the Flashes ahead, 16-8.Africentric called timeout and Johnson split two free throws out of the break, but Sowers hit a 3-pointer to give Willard its biggest lead of the night at 19-9.The Nubians finished the final 2:47 of the quarter strong though. They clamped down defensively on the Flashes, holding them scoreless while tallying the final five points of the half to slice Willard's lead to 19-14 at the break."Offensively, we didn't do what we really wanted to do," Pfahl said. "We wanted to get it to the paint and get it up and score. That was good early, but the longer it went, I felt the tired-er we got. It was more difficult to get in there."Africentric carried that momentum into the third quarter as field goals from Smith and Murphy cut the Flashes' lead to just one point, but Willard responded. Grace Hall nailed a triple before two free throws from Sowers and Stephens extended the lead back to 26-18.But, the Nubians came roaring back. They scored the next six points before Stephens split two free throws. Later, Willard pushed the advantage back to five points at 33-28, but Johnson and Smith scored for Africentric to bring the Nubians within two points after three quarters."They are a good ball club," said Pfahl of Africentric. "It is not an accident when they score like that. I was actually pleased prior to that. You have to get them going left. You have to get them shooting in the middle of the lane so you can seal them and get the rebound."Johnson tallied 22 points and seven rebounds for Africentric while Murphy scored 16 points. The Nubians missed all seven 3-pointers they shot."I love these seniors," Pfahl said. "If I had to go to war, I would take my five seniors and I'd stand behind Kalli Sowers. I figure that would be the safest place."Stephens finished with 23 points for the Flashes. Dials added 12 points and six rebounds while Buurma grabbed seven rebounds."This is a very special group," Pfahl said. "This is more family, I think, than any team I have ever had. These kids, when they come into the locker room, they come in the office and sit and talk. I have never had kids that will do that with people they call grandpa. There is a special relation there that went way beyond basketball." WILLARD (21-4) Kalli Sowers 1-5—8, Layla Dials 5-2—12, Mckenna Stephens 7-9—23, Grace Hall 1-0—3, Tristin Buurma 1-0—2, Syana Sivongsak 1-0—2. TOTALS 16-16—50. COLS. AFRICENTRIC (11-2) Lyric Ransom 1-0—2, Arianna Smith 3-2—8, Anylah Murphy 7-2—16, Maliyah Johnson 4-14—22, Kamryn Grant 2-0—4, Ariel Grace 1-0—2. TOTALS 18-18—54. Willard 10 9 16 10 5 — 50 Africentric 6 8 19 12 9 — 54 3-point FGs: (W) Sowers, Hall