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Girls Basketball: Niles West’s Dashae Shumate drains buzzer-beater to stun Maine South
Updated: January 27, 2012 11:59PM
Sophomore forward Dashae Shumate hit a short, running banker with less than a second left on the clock to give host Niles West a 42-41 victory over No. 8 Maine South on Friday.
Niles West took (18-8, 6-2) took sole possession of first place in the rugged Central Suburban South and broke a four-game losing streak against Maine South (21-4, 5-3). No. 19 Glenbrook South (18-5, 5-3) dropped into a tie for second place with its 31-29 road loss to New Trier (16-7, 4-4).
Maine South, the defending conference champion, took its first lead with 6 seconds remaining on two free throws by Michelle Maher. Everyone in the gym expected Wolves superstar Jewell Loyd to take the last shot, but she was guarded heavily at midcourt and found Shumate cutting to the basket.
“We were supposed to set screens for Jewell up the court, but (Maine South) didn’t press and she had a lot of people on her, so I needed to react a different way,” said Shumate.
Loyd (12 points, 16 rebounds) welcomed scoring help from junior Molly Kleppin (15 points) and Shumate (12).
Jacqui Grant led the Hawks with 12 points. Maher sparked her team’s comeback with all 10 of her points in the last 11 minutes. Kaitlyn Mullarkey scored eight points.
Niles West finishes its league slate at home against improving Evanston (14-10, 4-4) on Feb. 3 and at Glenbrook South on Feb. 10. The Wolves had lost four of their last five games.
Maine South and Niles West are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, in the Class 4A New Trier Sectional. The rivals could meet a third time for the third straight season. The Hawks avenged a 2010 sectional-final loss to the Wolves in the same round last season en route to placing third in the state.
Loyd needs 45 points to reach 3,000 for her career. Only six girls have scored that many since the IHSA state series began in 1977. Loyd would become the first from a school within 35 miles of Chicago.
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