A last second injury would make a lineup change that would help Grain Valley to a 61-48 win over No. 22 Lee’s Summit claiming their third Cardinal division Championship in the 44th Annual Winnetonka Girls Basketball Tournament in as many years.
Moments before the game Grain Valleys junior guard Pyper Hartigan was told she would be starting due to an injury to senior guard Annabella Totta.
Totta has been a huge piece to Grain Valleys success early in this season. Averaging 10 points, 3.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3 steals per game, she would be replaced by Hartigan whose splits in the early season are polar opposit, sitting at just 1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
Hartigan’s first task would be to defend Tatum Bresette, who put the tournament on notice in a 28-point win over No. 22 Park Hill, where she went 4/5 from three in the first quarter.
Going into the half, Lee's Summit was dominating Grain Valley with size and experience. The Tigers, being led by junior Avery Rausch– who had 14 of their 28 points– seemed to be in total control.
Grain Valley would be kept in this game by junior guard Camryn Kelly who scored nine of Grain Valley’s 21 points. Fill-in starter Pyper Hartigan would start off with only 3 points.
Coming out of half the Eagles would scorch the court, starting with a 13-2 run to take a 34-30 lead over the Tigers. The Eagles doing what they've done best this year, trusting everyone on their team during this run, allowing four players to get involved.
That run to start the second half would put all the momentum on the Eagles side, as they would out score the tigers 19-8 in the third, led by 10 points from Hartigan, including 2 three’s and 4 shots at the line.
The physical and efficient Tigers group that we saw in the first half would dissipate in the third period of play. They would head to the fourth period only down by 4 points.
While the Tigers group struggled to rebound from the third period of play with turnovers and missed shots while the Eagles led by Kelly and Hartigan would shut down a Tigers team who came into the game as favorites while scoring a combined 14 points in the fourth period of play (Kelly-6/ Hartigan-8).
Down by 11 with 1:36 left in the game the final blow would come to the Tigers as Avery Rausch would go down with an ankle injury, Rausch would finish the night with 20 points (10/10 FTs) as she would not return to the game.
With 46 seconds left Hartigan would score her final point of the game to bring her total to 21. Hartigan, who went into the second half with a grand total of three points with her team down by seven would score 18 points and lead the Eagles to a comeback win.
Final:
No. 22 Lee’s Summit (3-1) - 48
Grain Valley (3-0) - 61
Top Player Performances:
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Pyper Hartigan 21 points, 18 in the second half
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Avery Rausch 20 points, 10/10 from the line (Left game early)
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Camryn Kelly 18 points, 9 in second half
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Adriana Benassi 14 points, 8 in second half
