2011-12 Basketball: Copeland girls power Polo past Gallatin, 50-44

The game of basketball is measured in minutes, but it was a few precious seconds at the end of the third quarter that set the stage for the outcome in Tuesday night’s matchup between the Gallatin and Polo girls.

Jonna Stottlemeyer scored five points in the span of 16 seconds before the horn to lift Polo to a five-point lead and send the Lady Panthers on the path to a 50-44 Grand River Conference victory over a Lady Bulldog team that had just battled back from a double digit deficit to take a lead.

Stottlemeyer’s penetrating dribble produced another bucket to begin the fourth period and Polo sprinted to a 47-33 lead with a 16-0 run that didn’t end until Sara Lin nailed a three-pointer for Gallatin with 4:54 left to play.

The Lady Panthers tipped off the game with a spread offense and immediately made six-foot center Sammie Jo Copeland the focus of their scoring efforts. Copeland scored 12 first quarter points to help her team build an 11-point lead but Gallatin fought back from the three-point arc with Lin and Kaitlyn Hefley hitting long range shots to cut the gap to 28-25 at intermission.

Kailey Salmon hit a runner in the lane over the top of Copeland. Lin beat the press with the dribble and passed ahead to Salmon for another shot in the lane that tied the game, 31-31. Hefley popped in a pair of free throws late in the third for Gallatin’s first lead, 33-31, but Stottlemeyer launched a three-ball and heaved a shot off an in-bounds play that went in at the buzzer.

The Lady Bulldogs, now 0-2 in the league and 7-6 overall, were led by Lin and Hefley with 14 points each, and Salmon with 12.

Copeland finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds for Polo, which improved to 9-4 and 1-0 in the conference. Sidney Copeland added 14 points for the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Bulldogs seek their first conference win this Friday when they host the Albany Lady Warriors. Albany fell to Hamilton, 69-17, on Tuesday.