Willard falls in overtime to Africentric

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, but 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." Willard (21-4) won its second straight district championship this season. 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-pointer 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 as close as Willard would get. "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. Two free throws by Mckenna 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. 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. "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 (Dials) get down and get some penetration in the paint." Willard pushed the advantage to five points at 33-28 in the third quarter but the Nubians rallied.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 5-6 8, Layla Dials 5 2-3 12, Mckenna Stephens 7 9-11 23, Grace Hall 1 0-0 3, Tristin Buurma 1 0-0 2, Syana Sivongsak 1 0-1 2. TOTALS 16 16-21 50 AFRICENTRIC (11-2) Lyric Ransom 1 0-1 2, Arianna Smith 3 2-2 8, Anylah Murphy 7 2-4 16, Maliyah Johnson 4 14-19 22, Kamryn Grant 2 0-0 4, Ariel Grace 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 18 18-26 54 Willard 10 9 16 10 5 -- 50Africentric 6 8 19 12 9 -- 54 Three-point goals -- Willard 2 (Sowers, Hall); Africentric 0