PORTSMOUTH — Call it a frantic finish or call it an old-fashioned basketball barnburner, but no matter what you call it, you can paint it green and white.
Green's Matti Hayslip scored as time expired to give the Lady Bobcats a thrilling 58-56 win over the Portsmouth Notre Dame Lady Titans and clinch the Southern Ohio Conference 1 title on Monday night.
The finish was set up when Hayslip was able to deflect a 3-point attempt by Laney Strickland, Abbie Knapp secured the ball and threw an outlet pass up the floor to Hayslip and the sophomore guard laid the ball in to put Green ahead 54-53.
Hayslip then sank two free throws to give the Lady Bobcats a 56-53 lead with 45 seconds.
But Brianne Hicks pulled the trigger in front of the Notre Dame bench and nailed a triple with 33 seconds remaining to tie the game back up.
After a stop, the Lady Titans got the ball back with 12 seconds left and take the final shot. Jaysa Bryant tried to drive down the lane but her shot attempt hit the bottom of the backboard and bounced to Mylee Brown.
Brown passed the ball back to Knapp, who found Hayslip alone on a runout and heaved the ball down court to Hayslip for the bucket and the win as the clock hit zeroes.
Hayslip led Green offensively with a game-high 19 points. Knapp finished with 16 points and 14 boards to notched another double-double.
The win also extended the Lady Bobcats' win streak to 11 games and snapped Notre Dame's streak of having it's name etched on the Division 1 trophy since the 2013-14 season.
The Lady Titans flexed their offensive muscle in the early stages of the game, jumping out to their biggest lead of the game when Kaylyn Darden came up with a steal, drive and lay in to give Notre Dame a 10-4 lead at the 4:05 mark of the first.
The Lady Bobcats climbed back to tie it at 12-all but Lauryn Trinidad put the Lady Titans back ahead with a close range bucket.
Knapp scored off a pass from Hayslip to knot things back to finish off the opening period.
Knapp, who came into the game as Green's leading scorer, found herself in foul trouble in the first half. She picked up her third foul just 30 seconds into the second period and was forced to sit for the remainder of the half.
But Knapp's absence didn't seem to hamper the Lady Bobcats, as McBee buried a 3-pointer and Hayslip swished one of her own from behind the arc to push Green out to a 6-point lead. Then McBee followed with a jumper from the corner off an inbounds pass from Hayslip to make it 22-14 with 5:15 remaining in the half.
Trinidad helped bring the Lady Titans back in the late stages of the half, getting a layup off a steal and then added a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession. Then Taylor Lasswell scored on a bucket inside to cut the deficit to 22-21 with 2:05 remaining.
But another trifecta from McBee at the top of the key closed out the scoring in the first half and the Lady Bobcats took a 25-21 lead into the locker room.
McBee finished the game with 9 points, 9 rebounds and a game-high 5 blocked shots.
In the third, Knapp returned from the bench to help give the Lady Bobcats their largest lead of the game with a score down inside and drew a foul for an old-fashioned 3-point play. Knapp sank the foul shot and Green went up 37-29 at the 5:03 mark of the period.
Hayslip tallied 4 assists in the third en route to a total of 7 on the night. One of those being a beautiful give-and-go pass to Knapp for a layup in the lane.
Green was able to push its lead to its biggest of the game when Hayslip drove down the lane and scored on an underhand layup to make it 43-34 with 2:45 remaining in the third.
But just as soon as Green had built up its lead, the Lady Titans took it away with an 8-0 run to close out third. Trinidad and Brianne Hicks hit back-to-back 3-pointers to shrink the lead to 43-42 heading into the final period.
Notre Dame took its first lead since the opening period when Trinidad scored on a feed from Darden just 45 seconds into the fourth.
The momentum appeared as though it was starting to shift towards Notre Dame on the ensuing possession when Hicks knocked down a triple to extend the lead out to 47-43.
But that momentum wouldn't last long as Hayslip was able to come up with a steal near mid court and take it the rest of the way for a layup and make it a one possession game. Then Addison Blizzard buried a pair of 3-pointers in consecutive possessions in front of the Green student section to tie the game at 51-all with 3:33 remaining and set up the final moments.
Notre Dame was led in scoring by Hicks with 15 points. Trinidad added 12 points and Strickland and Jaysa Bryant each scored 10.
Green will be on the road Wednesday against the Eastern Pike Eagles in an SOC division crossover matchup.
Green 14 11 18 15 = 58
Notre Dame 14 7 21 14 = 56
GREEN (17-1, 7-0): Mylee Hunt 3 0 0-0 6, Mylee Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Ava Abrams 0 0 0-0 0, Matti Hayslip 3 3 4-5 19, Abbie Knapp 6 0 4-5 16, Elizabeth McBee 3 1 0-0 9, Addison Blizzard 0 2 0-0 6. Totals: 16 6 8-10 58. Rebounds: O-8, D-29 = 37 (Knapp 14, McBee 9, Hayslip 4). Assists: 12 (Hayslip 7, Knapp 3). Steals: 2 (Brown, Abrams). Blocks: 6 (McBee 5, Hayslip 1). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.
NOTRE DAME (10-7, 3-2): Taylor Lasswell 1 1 0-1 5, Jaysa Bryant 2 1 3-4 10, Brianne Hicks 0 5 0-0 15, Kaylyn Darden 1 0 2-2 4, Laney Strickland 3 1 1-2 10, Lauryn Trinidad 3 2 0-0 12, Audrey Bach 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 10 10 6-9 56. Rebounds: O-14, D-18 = 32. Assists: 10 (Darden 6, Bryant 2, Trinidad 2). Steals: 15 (Darden 7, Strickland 3, Trinidad 3). Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.
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