Devils Take District Title

Photo by Jayson Robins

Holton heads for the Regionals


Holton 41 Shelby 39 (2OT)
The Red Devils and Tigers were doing battle for the third time this season, this one for a District title. Holton had won their first two meetings but this was tournament time and the game would be played on the Shelby home court.
And what a game it was.

A 13-10 halftime lead by the Devils evaporated in the third as Shelby took over with a 13-4 run and the game entered the 4th with the Tigers up 6 in a game where points came at a premium.
Behind 5 clutch  points by Layla Cannady the Devils fought their way back and the teams finished regulation tied at 31.

Coach Jordan: “OT was back and forth with both teams only scoring 3.  The play of the game with Lexi Bart not giving up on a fast break layup and was able to contest it  with only a few seconds remaining  in the overtime to force a miss. If  she doesn’t give it all out effort on that play we don’t win this game. 
“In the 2nd overtime Kenzie Greene came through with a huge 3 to start the quarter and we were able to get a lead of about 6 points with 50 seconds left. I thought we finally had it in the bag, but Shelby I would just not go away. Molly Shultz hit a deep three and got another two and trimmed a six point lead down to 1 very quickly. We had the ball,  got fouled and Abbie Fowler split to put us up 2 with 10 seconds left.They had the ball and we were able to take away any good looks. They tossed one up at the buzzer and lucky for us it didn’t go in.”
“First I want to give Shelby a ton of credit, those girls played hard and it was a back and forth game all night, that team is way better than their record.
“If you believe in omens then we had a chance tonight. We only have one district title in school history and that was 9 years ago at Shelby where we played Hesperia on Wednesday and Shelby  at Shelby. This week 9 years later it was the same layout.. Hesperia on Wednesday and Shelby  at Shelby. So it was all lined up for us.
“So proud of this team for the effort tonight. Several girls made big plays for us in this back and forth game and we earned every point.”
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Ryann Robins was a force on the glass hauling down 24 boards to go with her 15 points.Aubrey Goyings finished with 13 rebounds while Lexi Bart  hit for  11 points and added 5 steals.
Holton moves on to the Regionals at Covenant Christian where they will take on Northpointe Christian on Monday. Game time 7pm.

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