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With an inspired and intense performance on the basketball floor, Gallatin’s Lady Bulldogs upset Hamilton, 60-48, in Saturday’s championship game of the Gallatin Invitational Tournament, and by doing so ended Hamilton’s streak of consecutive game victories at 34.
Hamilton had won three straight meetings against Gallatin in the GIT championship game, in 2002, 2006 and 2007, and Saturday’s outcome broke a string of three straight tournament titles for the Lady Hornets.
"We talked a lot this week about just going out and ‘letting it all hang out’– win or lose," said Lady Bulldog coach Rick Lin. "I thought that our girls played with a lot of confidence, and they played their roles very well," he added.
With Gallatin up, 45-39, with four minutes to play, Lady Hornet resistance crumbled under the weight of Lady Bulldog free throws. Tye Humphrey hit all six of her attempts down the stretch, Alex Burge was perfect on two more and Courtney Ray added a lone foul shot to cap a 15-9 run to the final horn.
Wren Tolen scored twice from the field in the final three minutes to add to the GHS lead.
Saturday’s title game was, at times, part basketball, part wrestling, with as many players on the floor as on their feet. The fast, intense pace led to a combined 15 fouls in the opening quarter, but only one player eventually fouled out over the course of the game.
"Our starters (Courtney Ray, Wren Tolen, Tye Humphrey, Ashley Owens, Alex Burge) started the game with a lot of energy, and set the tone for the game," Coach Lin said.
The Lady Bulldogs stunned the crowd with a 5-0 lead just seconds off the opening tip, but the defending Class 2 state champion Lady Hornets battled to a brief lead late in the first period, despite ball-handling problems against the GHS press. Gallatin more than held its own on the boards and led by as many as seven points before the half closed at 31-25. The Lady Bulldogs would finish plus four in rebound differential (31 to 27).
Gallatin stretched the lead to 36-27 early in the third quarter on buckets by Humphrey and Ray, but Hamilton showed its championship mettle by fighting back to within 36-35 with two minutes left in the period.
With their first GIT title since 1999, the Lady Bulldogs tied the Lady Hornets for most GIT titles, at eight. Coach Lin praised a team effort throughout the entire tournament, as his girls moved to 3-0 on the season.
"Our bench was very strong this week," said Coach Lin. "We had good support on both ends of the floor from the people who came off the bench — Carly Boyd, Maggie Strange, Kelly Critten, Ashley Beck, Jamie Brinnen and Savannah Butcher.
Ray, who earned tournament most valuable player, put together solid totals for points (12), rebounds (7) and assists (3). Humphrey, an all-tournament pick, led Gallatin with 13 points and nine rebounds. Lady Hornet all-tournament honorees Lindsay Vollmer and Eileen Greenwood scored 15 and 10, respectively.
Semifinal battle
Gallatin squeaked past South Harrison, 48-44, in Thursday’s semifinal round, despite a 3-for-11 showing from the foul line down the stretch. On the flip side, South Harrison went 10-for-13 from the stripe, but was shut down from the field by good defense and rebounding.
SHHS senior Kelsey Butler got hot from the field late in the first half, but notched only one field goal in the second half, thanks to tight defensive coverage by Burge and Boyd. Likewise, 6-2 center Mysti Williams couldn’t find the range from the field as she was blanketed by double coverage whenever the ball entered her space.
South Harrison briefly tied the game at 30-30 late in the third quarter, but Boyd hit two big buckets for Gallatin early in the fourth. Humphrey added another and Ray sank a trey to offset a sub-par shooting night from the line.
Credit Boyd for causing a SHHS turnover as Gallatin clung to a three-point lead with 12 seconds left.
Following a time out, Williams took an in-bounds pass from Butler and turned to give the ball back, but threw it away as Butler was blanketed by Boyd.
Ray led Gallatin with 14 points and Tolen canned 11.