Columbus, Ohio- On Saturday evening the Gilmour Academy Lady Lancers faced off against the Versailles Tigers with the Division III Championship on the line. The Lady Lancers defeated the defending Division III State Champions, Columbus Africentric Early College Nubians with a score of 65-54 to punch their ticket in the D-3 State Finals. Versailles defeated the Sardinia Eastern Warriors 58-34 to advance to the championship game.
After a tightly contested opening, the Lady Lancers and the Tigers were tied at 12 heading into the second quarter of play. Naz Hillmon lead the Lancers in scoring at the end of the first with 4 points. On the other side, Camille Watren had a team-high of 8 points for the Tigers. The Lancers lead the first quarter for 4 minutes and 51 seconds.
In the second quarter, the Tigers outscored the Lady Lancers 14-11 which gave the Tigers the lead going into the half 26-23. Hillmon had 12 points and 9 rebounds and Sarah Bohn had 6 points at the half for the Lancers. Watren had 11 points for the Tigers, Kami McEldowney and Elizabeth Ording added 5 points respectively. The Lady Lancers committed 4 turnovers by halftime and the Tigers scored 5 of their 26 points off of turnovers.
At the end of the third quarter, the Lady Lancers and Tigers were deadlocked at 37 heading into the final quarter for the Division III State Championship. Emily Kelley hit her first three-pointer in the 3rd for the Lancers. Momentum swung to both sides for each team in the third quarter, both trying to give their team the edge heading into the 4th quarter.
Hillmon had a double-double in the 3rd quarter with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
After an intense fourth quarter that included an interesting final minute of play the Lady Lancers prevailed and brought home their first Division III State Championship in school history to Gates Mills, Ohio with a 56-54 victory over the Tigers. The final minute saw the Tigers push the pace, force turnovers and cut a deficit of 10 points all the way down to 4 points with nearly 5 seconds left in the game.
Gilmour Academy Lady Lancer Basketball Coach, Bob Beutel had this to say on how he will celebrate with his kids:
“We are gonna decided on where to stop on the way back. I assume we have to find a place that has sprinkles because sprinkles are for winners. That has been a running joke with the team for the past year”
Naz Hillmon was the lead scorer for the Lancers with 24 points and added 17 rebounds, Sarah Bohn added 10, Emily Kelley with 11, Annika Corcoran had 4, Emma Gurley scored 4, and Sydney Diedrich with 3.
@GALancerGirlsBB are your 2017 OHSAA D-III State Champions!!!! The first ever state championship in school history!! Way to go girls!! #GoGA pic.twitter.com/zpkHBXtLnG
— Isaac Pastrana (@IsaacPxP27) March 18, 2017
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