Lakeside Finds The Answer After Trailing By 11, Knights Win On Mcpeak’S Foul Shots

To borrow the thoughts of Lakeside High girls basketball coach Ron Miller, his team hasn’t played well in the State A-3 tournament.

Lakeside followed an ugly opening-round loss with more of the same play Friday.

There was a significant difference, though. Lakeside won, rallying from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to trip Parma, 47-46, in the closing seconds at Middleton High School.

“There’s got to be an easier way to win those suckers than that, isn’t there?” Miller asked. “We didn’t play very well all day. Nothing went right. We shot terrible. We were sloppy. We had a lot of turnovers. But once again, those kids proved that if you just keep playing hard and you just keep playing hard until the dang thing’s over, good stuff will happen to you.”

Another good thing for the Knights (21-6) is that they’ll play for the consolation title this morning at 8:15 PST. Lakeside will face Firth (22-5), a 49-40 victor over Homedale (19-6) on Friday.

Lakeside 47, Parma 46

Truly from the Knights’ perspective, this game was unsightly until the final drama-filled 2 minutes.

Pick-up games in middle school physical education classes rivaled the first 3-1/2 quarters of the loser-out game, but then came the final compelling moments.

Lakeside’s Kristina McPeak was fouled in the act of shooting with 10 seconds left and the Knights trailing 46-45. The 5-foot-5 sophomore made both free throws.

With no timeouts left, Parma hurried for a final shot. The ball was knocked loose and a held ball was called. The Panthers retained possession with 2 seconds left.

Parma’s Tricia Haddock took the inbounds pass on the baseline and turned to attempt a shot, but Lakeside’s Michelle Kelley blocked it. However, Kelley was called for a foul with the referee indicating she touched Haddock with her body. It was a questionable call at best.

“I wasn’t even close to her,” Kelley said. “I was like this far away (holding her hands about 2 feet apart).”

Haddock, Parma’s leading foul-shooter at 75 percent, stepped to the line with .6 seconds remaining on the clock. She missed both free throws, and Lakeside’s Mariah Middleton grabbed the rebound as time expired.

Parma had gone into a stall with 3 minutes left, forcing Lakeside to foul. The Panthers missed some other key free throws, but they also aided the Knights’ rally with five turnovers.

“We didn’t handle the pressure toward the end very well,” Parma coach Jim White said. “Lakeside did what it had to do to win. They hit some outside buckets in the second half and we didn’t cover them very well on defense.”

McPeak, Kelley and Suni Jo Mullen hit 3-pointers in the rally, and a layup by McPeak off a steal with 42 seconds left pulled Lakeside within a point at 46-45. That was the closest the Knights had gotten since they trailed 4-2.

“When we were down by 11 points, I had a little bit of a doubt,” said Kelley, who scored a team-high 13 and had nine rebounds. McPeak and Mary Kolar had 11 points each.

Miller said it was the sixth comeback win this year.

“I don’t think it’s anything great that we do. It’s just that we keep after it and after it and after it until the dang thing is over,” Miller said.

Lakeside 4 16 7 20 - 47

Parma 14 12 12 8 - 46

Lakeside - SiJohn 0, McPeak 11, Moore 0, Kolar 11, Middleton 4, Kelley 13, Fuchs 3, Mullen 5.

Parma - Hurtado 2, Phelps 0, Oostra 2, Back 0, Haddock 15, White 16, Sells 1, Myers 10.