If Monday night’s Gallatin vs. South Harrison girls game were to be made into a film, it would be hard to decide if it should be an action flick, drama, comedy or documentary, but one thing is certain, South Harrison’s Kelsey Butler would garner the leading role.
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Butler scored 34 points, including six three-pointers to lead South Harrison to a 60-56 overtime victory that gave the purple and white Lady Bulldogs their first uncontested Grand River Conference title since 2005.
But though Butler was the leading force on the floor, the game’s officials drew more attention than they would have liked.
With 38 seconds left in overtime, South Harrison’s Tiara Pettijohn stepped to the foul line to shoot a two-shot foul, but first a discussion ensued among officials and coaches. It was determined that South Harrison got the ball on back-to-back possession arrows leading into the sequence. After a ten-minute discussion in which one official huddled with GHS head coach Rick Lin on the bench as they scanned the rule book, it was determined that the error was not correctable at that point.
Pettijohn hit one of two free shots to put her team up 60-56. Gallatin had a pair of scoring opportunities off a last possession but was unable to convert either.
Gallatin took the early lead in OT when Jamie Brinnen stole a pass in the paint and Carly Boyd drew a foul on a drive into the lane. She hit her second free throw shot to give her team its first lead since late in the first period.
Butler converted a shot in the paint to re-establish a SH lead. The host team laid claim to a junk basket when Butler lost the ball and it rolled toward teammate Mysti Williams. She couldn’t control the ball on a wild scramble but it rolled to Pettijohn all alone under the basket and she hit the bunny for a three-point South Harrison advantage.
Gallatin battled adversity in the second half, some of it the Lady Bulldogs’ own making.
A technical foul on the heels of an intentional foul in the third quarter allowed South Harrison to score seven points without Gallatin having touched the ball. The host Lady Bulldogs went from a 39-38 lead to a 46-38 advantage in the sequence that took Wren Tolen out of the game.
Courtney Ray took the reins of Gallatin’s offense in the fourth quarter, notching three of her five treys that helped send the game into overtime.
Both teams battled scoreless in the final 1:30 of regulation. South Harrison had four chances under their own basket but could not convert. As time ran down on a final Gallatin possession, Strange put up a shot four feet from the basket, blocked by Butler.
South Harrison took a 32-22 lead into the second half but Gallatin charged out of intermission with a 14-4 run, capped by Maggie Strange’s put back of a missed free that knotted the score at 36-36. As she had done on at least one earlier occasion, Butler came down the floor to hit a trey that immediately re-established a South Harrison lead.
The first half told a tale of one-shot possessions and mounting foul problems for Gallatin. South Harrison hit 12 of 17 free throws in the opening half, and went on to finish with a 24-for-36 night at the foul line.
Ray finished with a team-high 19 points. Strange added 13 and Tolen chipped in 12 for Gallatin, which fell to 7-2 (3rd) in the conference and 19-5 overall heading into Friday’s regular season finale at Lathrop.
GHS over Stanberry
Gallatin downed a game Stanberry team last Friday, 45-36, in Stanberry. Ray again led a balanced attack with 11 points. Tolen and Ashley Owens each tallied nine. Strange added seven for the GHS girls.