Late-game bucket pushes Eagles over Lady Spartans

The Union Lady Spartans squared up with the Rosewood Lady Eagles at Lakewood Monday night in the first round of the Carolina 1A conference tournament. A tumultuous battle had unfolded between the teams in their two prior meetings, with Rosewood eclipsing Union by a total of just seven points between the two matches. Union was looking to finally get a win over their conference foes, but a last-second bucket propelled the Eagles to a 38-37 win.

The hosts of the first game, the Eagles, took the opening tip for an empty possession. After a shot that was no good, the Lady Spartans tied it up for a jump ball. At the other end, Evelin Alvarez tried a 3 but was partially blocked on her attempt.

Neither squad could get baskets to fall to open the game, with missed shots abundant at both ends. Zadariyah Faison tried to get Union on the board multiple times but was unsuccessful on all of them over two minutes into the contest. Rosewood missed a pair of free throws, further worsening offensive woes for the purple and white.

A rebound from the lengthy Eagle center gave her the put-back shot in front of the hoop, but Tijaya Goodman answered with a banked-in 3-pointer to match just seconds later, giving Union the 3-2 lead nearly three minutes into the opening quarter. An Eagle 3 almost a minute later retook the Rosewood lead at 5-3 and a dish to the low block gave them another layup on top of that, further extending it to 7-3 in favor of the Eagles. Lady Spartan head coach Mark Oates would signal for the game’s first timeout with just a hair over four minutes left in the first.

A deep triple was off the mark for Faison as Union continued to struggle offensively. On the defensive end, the Spartans were holding most possessions to a minimum, even though the Rosewood lead had climbed to a 9-3 lead south of two minutes.

Makayla Hall was no good on a pair of free throws after being fouled on a layup, extending the Spartans’ scoreless streak deep into the first quarter and threatening to extend it into the second as well. A fast break from Faison with just seconds left moved it to an 11-5 score to end the opener as well as the drought.

Faison started the second on a hot streak, scoring two fast-break layups and a pair of free throws to grab six points all by herself to tie the game at 11 less than a minute in.

Rosewood momentarily retook the lead on a jump shot, but Alvarez returned the favor once again on a triple from the right side, to take the 14-13 lead. Zakiya Royal got a 3-point attempt of her own, but a late foul caused her to fall awkwardly on her ankle. Through the pain, she was able to make one of her free throws, extending Union’s lead to two before the Eagles tied it up shortly after.

With 3:23 left in the half, Rosewood took the lead once more in the tug-of-war that had played out, but Ahleeyah Richardson banked in a flat-footed shot to tie it up. Alvarez took a fast break for the layup attempt and drew the foul. Her first foul shot was no good, and Oates signaled for another timeout between the two shots with 2:12 to play in the half.

Although Alvarez couldn’t make the second free throw either, Union took the slim 18-17 late in the first half, but a layup from the Eagles gave them the 19-18 advantage going into halftime.

Union took the opening possession in the third quarter, but couldn’t make anything of it. They got retribution as the Eagles couldn’t come up with any points, either, and Faison took a fast break for a layup to regain the 20-19 advantage.

Richardson opened things up further with a 3, grabbing the four-point lead for the ‘visiting’ Lady Spartans, as they were finally clicking at both ends of the floor.

Faison hooked Alvarez up with a pass at the top of the key to get her another trey from the left side. After a return basket from Rosewood, the score sat at 26-23 in favor of Union with 2:41 to play in the third. After the Eagles closed it to 26-25, Faison assisted Richardson on yet another 3, this time forcing the lead to 29-25 as the third was moving towards a close.

A Faison fast-break layup gave the Spartans two more, and a 3 from the Eagles in the closing seconds closed it to a 31-28 lead for Union as the third period ended.

Just one point — for the Eagles — was scored in the first 2:41 of the fourth quarter, as neither team could get much offense moving. Faison would break this on a baseline jumper, giving the Spartans the 33-29 lead. She doubled up on a fast break layup, pushing Union’s lead to six.

Rosewood hit a foul line jumper as the clock moved under four minutes, closing the deficit to four at 35-31. The Eagles started playing tighter defense, including half-court traps, and it paid off. They cut the lead down to two with just 3:08 left in the game. Goodman couldn’t connect on a pair of free throws to extend the Union lead any further. Faison was no good on an elbow jumper as well.

Hall sank one of her two free throws near the 2:30 mark to give the Spartans the three-point lead, and a Faison steal resulted in no points for the Spartans.

While Faison’s shooting had cooled off, so had Rosewood’s late in the fourth, as Union protected its lead. Alvarez made a free throw north of a minute left, taking the 37-33 advantage with it. A high-arcing triple from the Eagles closed the gap to just one with 51.5 seconds left, setting the stage for another late-game thriller between the two squads.

Hall was fouled but couldn’t make either of her shots from the charity stripe, keeping the lead at just one, this time with under half a minute to play.

A fight for possession ensued on a layup from the Eagles, resulting in their center banking in a jumper to take the 38-37 lead with just 7.7 seconds left. Union called their final timeout to regroup and focus, but to no avail, as they couldn’t connect on their final shot and Rosewood took the win.