Granite beats Drummond with buzzer beater, again

FRENCHTOWN – Baseball great Yogi Berra once supposed that, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

For members of the Drummond Lady Trojans that also played volleyball, they may be feeling that exact sentiment right now.

For the second time this season the Granite Lady Prospectors defeated Drummond on a last second shot (this time in the semifinals of the District 13C Tournament) 41-40 to advance to the championship game Saturday night against Seeley Swan.

It was just weeks earlier in January when – as the teams were tied 49-49 – junior Rachel Ward floated a shot into the net as time expired to lift Granite over their county rival 51-49.

This time it was Ward who helped advance the ball after a pair of missed free throws by the Lady Trojans’ Liz Perry. Ward brought it up left the side of the floor, but lost the ball after being harassed on defense by Bailey Parke and Kimber Parsons. The ball rolled into the hands of Granite freshman Ramsay Smith who quickly fired a pass to Reece Pitcher who laid the ball in as time expired.

The Lady Trojans erupted with jubilation while the Lady Trojans walked back to the bench in utter disbelief.

The victory puts Granite into the tournament’s championship game against undefeated Seeley Swan, who beat Darby earlier in the day 68-28.

Drummond falls into the consolation bracket where they face Valley Christian Saturday at 10 a.m. Winner advances to the Consolation Bracket final and the loser goes home.

And while all this sounds triumphant for one team and tragic for another, this whole scenario played itself out almost identically during volleyball season.

The Lady Prospectors beat the Lady Trojans in the semifinals there as well, advancing to play Seeley while Drummond had to face Valley in the Consolation Bracket. Only in that scenario, Drummond made a dramatic sweep all the way to the District title. There can be no such Cinderella story here, except that is Granite beats the Blackhawks in the Winner’s Bracket final Saturday and the Lady Trojans win the Consolation bracket, the girls in blue could force a play-in game Monday.

Drummond led the game early, outscoring Granite 21-13 through two quarters. But a 20-9 third-quarter burst by the Lady Prospectors put them in the lead 33-30 heading in the final stanza.

Pitcher led Granite scorers with 12 points while Lucia Lee added 10.

Drummond’s Holly Hauptman led all scorers in the game with 15 with Jessie Struna chipping in nine.

SCORING

Drummond – 15/6/9/10 – 40

Granite – 10/3/20/8 – 41

Drummond – Nelson 2, Wagner 5, Parke 3, Struna 9, Hauptman 15, Perry 6

Granite – Lee 10, Ward 6, Pitcher 12, Smith 5, Comings 8