GBB 2A STATE FINAL: #1 Heritage Christian downs #2 Oak Hill in OT, 60-58

Oak Hill sent a message to the three-time defending champion early in the 2A final Saturday. The message was simple: These country girls aren’t afraid of you, so you had better prepare for war. 

The champions did just that, and the result was one of the greatest games in Indiana girls basketball history. Fittingly, it was decided on a memorable shot that will take its rightful place in that history when Freeman hit an off-balance, twisting jumper from 15 feet in the closing seconds of overtime.

Heritage Christian coach Rick Risinger likes to use a press of some sort at the beginning of games in hopes the tactic will earn his squad a quick spurt at the outset. After some debate, he used the strategy Saturday, and it created a definite spurt. 

The problem was that it wasn’t the one he was looking for. Oak Hill cut through the pressure like a knife through butter and set the tone for the rest of the game. Heritage Christian quickly abandoned the press and settled in for a grind-it-out affair. 

The Golden Eagles used the quick start to gain a 14-9 lead late in the opening period, but a trey from senior Emily Anderson cut the lead back to two, and the quarter ended with Oak Hill leading 18-15. Those first eight minutes set a pattern that would last the entire day. 

Oak Hill would gain several small advantages, only to see the champs respond. The Golden Eagles created several circumstances that could, and would, have felled a lesser team, only to see Heritage Christian figure a way to survive. 

The biggest of those circumstances came early in the second quarter, when Heritage Christian’s Kelly Faris picked up her third foul at the 5:41 mark and headed to the bench with Oak Hill leading 21-19. This was a situation Heritage Christian had seldom, if ever, faced. 

The Eagles were trailing in a game, and their heart and soul was not around to lead them. The challengers did their best to take advantage, but once more Heritage Christian responded. 

The teams headed to intermission with Oak Hill leading by just one point, 28-27.

Having stayed in the game under the direst of circumstances, most in the huge throng at Lucas Oil Stadium thought Heritage Christian would come out in the second half and establish its dominance. After all, the 5’11” Faris had been held to just one field goal and a total of four first-half points. 

That’s what they get for thinking.

After trading early points in the third quarter, the Golden Eagles once again took control and built a six-point margin at 37-31 late in the quarter. Heritage Christian again responded, closing the gap to 39-38 at the end of the quarter.

The drama of the final period could comprise a novel. The two teams both tightened their already smothering defenses, and then traded blows like heavyweight fighters. Oak Hill continued to shut down Faris from the field, while Heritage Christian put the clamps on Golden Eagles 6’4” junior center Ashley Pickering, who had torched them in the first half with 13 points. 

Oak Hill responded by turning to Purdue recruit 5’7” junior guard Courtney Moses to lead the attack. Heritage Christian used a relentless attack into the post to take advantage of Oak Hill foul problems. 

And so it went. Neither team could build more than a one-possession lead. Midway through the quarter, Heritage Christian finally took a 50-47 lead. Now it was Oak Hill’s turn to blink, and the Golden Eagles politely declined by regaining the advantage at 51-50 on a Moses jumper with 2:13 left in the period. 

This epic battle led to a final minute that folks have seen more times than we can count. Oak Hill led 54-52 with less than 30 seconds to play when Faris was fouled in the post. The unflappable one stepped to the line and calmly sank both charity tosses to tie the game. 

Then came the moment Oak Hill will regret for a lifetime. The Golden Eagles played for the last shot, but it never came. A Heritage Christian defender got just enough of the ball to create a scrum as the horn sounded, and the two exhausted combatants headed to overtime.

They traded single scores through the first three minutes of the extra session, and that set up a mirror image of the scenario at the end of regulation. This time, Oak Hill 6-foot sophomore Marissa Coolman stepped to the line and calmly drained two free throws to tie the game with less than a minute to play. 

Heritage Christian chose to spread the court and play for the last shot. Risinger said after the game that the Eagles would have taken an earlier shot had one presented itself, but with the defense that was being played at both ends that was not going to happen. 

As the clock ticked under 10 seconds, Risinger called timeout to set up a final play. It was designed to free Faris in the post or heading for the basket. Fittingly, Oak Hill would have none of that. The Golden Eagles forced a pass from Faris to Freeman on the right wing. 

Freeman then tried to drive into the lane but could not completely turn the corner. She ended up taking a shot over her back shoulder while floating left near the foul stripe. It banked off the board and nestled into the net. 

Oak Hill inbounded but could only throw a three-quarter court prayer that was not answered. The champions had survived, and the country girls had earned a lifetime of respect.

As I write this story, I have a stack of statistics from the contest. I am not going to use them. This game was not about who scored how many points or grabbed how many rebounds. It was about guts, pride, and tradition … things you just don’t keep track of on a scoreboard.