Edison gives top-seeded Clear Fork third-quarter scare

SHELBY — Edison trailed by 25 points in the second quarter to top-seeded Clear Fork in a Division V district semifinal Wednesday. The Chargers could've waived the white flag. Instead, they fought back. Edison put together a 22-4 run that began with a Stella Brown scoop layup and ended with an Ivy Kluding free throw. The Chargers went from down 40-15 to trailing 44-37 with 4:01 to play in the third quarter. And they had momentum. "They never count themselves out," Edison coach Chelsey Meagrow said. "They always give everything they've got and they play together. I can't say enough about them." Clear Fork went to a four-corner offense to run clock and the Chargers ran out of time, falling 62-45. The Colts burned the last minute of the third quarter and ran a deliberate offense in the fourth to protect their lead. "I figured that was going to happen," Meagrow said "We watched lots of film and they tend to go to that when they want to slow the game up. When we were on that run in the third quarter, they slowed it up and that kind of broke our momentum a little bit." Edison got within 53-40 on a Jorja Byington basket with five minutes to play in the game. Clear Fork answered with a 9-2 run to move on to Saturday's 6 p.m. district final. The Colts improved to 21-3. Their only losses have come to Division IV powers Bellevue and Shelby (twice). The fifth-seeded Chargers, who took a bye into the district semifinal, finished their season 9-14. "If you're gonna lose the last game you want to go out playing like that," Meagrow said. "The score wasn't any indicator with how close that game ended up." Byington, who along with senior Ivy Kluding played her last game for Edison, led the Chargers with 15 points and six rebounds. Kluding and Ella Booth finished with nine points each. Booth scored six points in a 13-3 run early in the third quarter when the Chargers' offense was clicking with crisp passing. "We focused on that. We took the bye and had a lot of time to prepare," Meagrow said. "We watched a lot of film. We knew they were really aggressive up top, which left the bottom part of the floor a little bit open. We had to get the ball to the middle and look for that backdoor cut. They executed very well." As Edison began scoring, Clear Fork went cold from 3-point range. The Colts were 8 for 25 from beyond the arc in the first half but were just 2 for 13 in the second half. Clear Fork made 224 3-pointers in the regular season. "We switched to a zone so we weren't chasing as much," Meagrow said. "I think just trying to get back in transition slowed them up a little bit. We ran it differently because of how they shoot 3s. To do it in a game in the first time was awesome to see it executed the way it was." Melodie Blubaugh led the Colts with 25 points. Brinley Barnett added 16. Blubaugh hit back-to-back 3s early in the second quarter to give CF a 35-13 lead. A Byington bucket and free throw for a 3-point play cut the Colts' lead to 44-36 with 4:41 left in the third quarter. The basket followed two Clear Fork timeouts within a minute. Blubaugh's 3 gave the Colts a 48-37 lead. "I love these girls like they're my own and I would do anything for them," Meagrow said. "I'd take them ahead of any group. They're not only great athletes but great people." EDISON (9-14) Taylor Moore 3 0-0 7, Jorja Byington 5 5-5 15, Ella Booth 4 1-2 9, Stella Brown 1 0-0 2, Ivy Kluding 3 2-4 9, Annabelle Seville 1 0-0 3. TOTALS 17 8-11 45 CLEAR FORK (21-3) Melodie Blubaugh 7 6-7 25, Asia Bechtel 0 0-0 0, Lillian Weikle 2 1-1 5, Brinley Barnett 5 3-3 16, Hailly Thrush 2 0-0 5, Ashtyn Wine 2 0-0 5, Rozy Stover 2 2-3 6. TOTALS 20 12-14 62 Edison 13 10 15 7 — 45Clear Fork 26 15 10 11 — 62 Three-point goals: Edison 3 (Moore, Kluding, Seville); Clear Fork 10 (Blubaugh 5, Barnett 3, Thrush, Wine)