GREENSBURG — Greensburg went ahead by six points in the fourth quarter Thursday night, but the Columbus East girls basketball team didn’t surrender quietly.
The Olympians were able to force overtime and in the overtime, they fell just short in a 59-56 loss.
Whitley Rankin went on a scoring tear nearing the end of regulation. She hit a floater to cut the lead to 48-44, then drained a 3-pointer to make it 48-47. After the Pirates converted a layup with 35 seconds left, Rankin sank a 3-pointer deep from the top of the key to force overtime.
In the overtime session, Greensburg hit a couple of 3-pointers to go ahead 58-54. Koryn Greiwe got a basket to make it 58-56. After the Pirates came up empty on their next possession, East had a chance, but a 3-point shot from Gretchen Comer was just off the mark with seven seconds left.
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Aliyah Evans then converted 1-of-2 free throws for Greensburg. Greiwe had a shot at the buzzer to possibly force a second overtime, but it was just short.
“We all had trust in each other, but in the last few games, it felt like we weren’t playing as team and not trusting each other,” Greiwe said. “I got the shot that I wanted, and I thought it was in, but it didn’t go through and we came up short.”
Greiwe was quiet for most of the first half with the Pirates (14-4) face-guarding her and taking her out of the equation and making it a 4-on-4 game on offense for the Olympians (8-9). Still, East stepped kept the game close in the first half, trailing only 21-18 at halftime.
The Olympians trailed 36-31 early in the fourth quarter, but Comer caught fire and hit a couple of huge 3s during a 6-2 run that made it 38-37. Greensburg then scored seven straight points to make it 45-37 midway through the fourth quarter, setting up the East comeback to force overtime.
“We were right in the game, and we knew we had to step up our effort and intensity. We needed to fight back, and we did,” Rankin said. “We played some good team-ball today and came together as a team. Gretchen hit big shots for us. She’s an amazing shooter, and getting a couple of 3s off the bench for us was huge.”
Greiwe scored a game-high 22 points for the Olympians. Rankin added 10.
“We played with a lot of energy tonight, and we competed hard and I feel like we deserved a better fate,” East coach Danny Brown said. “We had a chance. Whitley hit a big 3 to send it into overtime, and Gretchen just missed a shot in overtime and could have won it for us, but she did hit some big shots for us during the game.”
