Girls Basketball: Rich South beats Rich Central in OT

Updated: January 19, 2012 10:27PM

When it’s crunch time, Rich South senior Kiela Garner has just one idea.

“Coach always tell me to do what I do best, go to the hole.”

In Thursday’s 54-48 overtime victory over visiting Rich Central, that’s exactly what she did.

Again and again.

With seven seconds left in regulation, the 5-foot-7 guard pulled down a rebound and went the length of the court for a buzzer-beating layup that sent the game into overtime.

In the OT, she popped a three and then hit a running floater to put the Stars in front for good.

It was only fitting that she dropped in two free throws with one second left to close out Rich South’s biggest win of the season.

“Courageous,” Rich South coach Brian Mays said. “I took her out of the game (Wednesday) night (against Kankakee) because she hurt her knee. We took her out at times tonight, but she kept wanting to go back in. She was courageous and determined.”

Garner finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Tierra Webb added 17 points and nine rebounds and DeAsia Garrett 13 points as the Stars (15-4, 6-1) pulled into a tie for first place in the Southland Conference.

Alex Stanford and Ariel Sneed had 14 points each for Rich Central (18-5, 6-1).

Central played without leading scorer Chaz Duson, who was academically ineligible.

The Stars looked in serious trouble early in the fourth period, trailing 34-26. The tide began to turn, however, with 6:07 remaining when Stanford fouled Webb, and also drew a technical foul. Webb hit 3 of 4 free throws.

Back in the game, the Stars caught but were unable to pass Central in regulation. They fell behind again early in overtime, but with 1:46 showing went in front 47-46 on a three by Garner. The Olympians responded with a bank-in by Stanford, but Garner again went to the hole and hit a short floater with 49 seconds left for what would be the game-winner.

“They wanted it more than we did,” Central coach Bryan Craig said. “They were more disciplined and hustled harder. There were a lot of non-foul calls that was difficult to bear with, but other than that, (South) wanted it. I can’t take anything away from them.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.