Richards’ players celebrate after winning the Elementary Basketball League Championship game at Columbus East High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
If the Richards fans who packed one side of the Orange Pit Saturday afternoon were feeling like their nerves were a little frayed after three hours of basketball, they probably didn’t mind.
That’s because the Raiders pulled out not one, but two nail-biting decisions in the Elementary Basketball League finals. The Richards boys edged Southside 34-33, then the Raider girls held on for a 41-39 win against Smith.
“I was scared,” Richards’ Owen Coomes said. “People were just cheering so loud, it got on my nerves. It was nerve-racking. I didn’t think we were going to win. But we were calling a lot of timeouts, going over plays, talking about what we needed to do.”
Coomes led the Raider boys with 14 points and 10 rebounds. His basket with 47 seconds remaining gave them a 34-32 lead.
Parker Jones, who led the Mustangs with 17 points and five rebounds, hit one of two free throws with 37 seconds left to cut the lead to one. Richards missed a pair of free throws, but then came up with a blocked shot at the other end. Southside got the ball out of bounds, but Jones missed a 12-footer, and the Raiders got it on a simultaneous possession with 1 second remaining and ran outthe clock.
“Our defense was playing pretty well the whole game,” Richards boys coach Barry Turnbow said. “We were doing a really good job of moving the ball around and getting it underneath. The last two or three possessions, we just kind of clamped down on defense a little bit and made it a little bit harder for them to get in and passed the ball a little bit better on offense and got some better shots.”
Gavin Wilcox added 10 points for the Raiders. Jayden Wilcox grabbed seven rebounds to help them to a 25-24 advantage on the boards.
“We had to play hard on defense and just keep playing hard,” Wilcox said. “We were scoring, we were playing hard defense, and it just kept us fired up.”
Richards had beaten Southside by 11 points late in the regular season.
Dane Hoopingarner added eight points for the Mustangs in Saturday’s game, which featured six lead changes and four ties.
“They just made one more play than we did,” Southside coach Chris Bodart said. “We played our hearts out and did everything we possibly could. They just made a big shot when they needed to.
The girls game looked like it would be a lot less dramatic when Richards jumped out to a 24-14 halftime lead. But Smith came storming back to make things interesting at the end.
The Sonics’ Renata Gonzalez hit two free throws with 25 seconds remaining, then two more with 21 seconds left to cut the lead to 40-39. The Raiders’ Hadley Andresen then made one of two free throws with 12 seconds remaining to make it a two-point game.
After and exchange of turnovers, Smith turned it over again on an over-and-back with 5.7 seconds left. Andresen missed the front end of a one-and-one, and after the rebound went out of bounds, Smith tried a full-court pass that was intercepted.
“We all worked together,” Andresen said. “I think we came out strong, and we were ready and worked as a team.”
Andresen Richards with 21 points and had nine rebounds. Bella Kintner, who missed last year’s championship loss to Parkside with a foot injury, added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“I had a lot of fun,” Kintner said. “I’m glad I got to play this year. I was really sad last year that I didn’t get to play, but I was very excited I got to this year.”
Gonzalez led Smith with 14 points. Alexa Young added 11 points and 11 rebounds, Allison Halstead scored 10 points and Aaliya Johnson grabbed 10 rebounds.
“These girls have all the heart in the world,” Smith coach Randy Rudzinski said. “We’ve been down a few times this year. We’ve battled injuries. We had a team that played from start to finish, win or lose, they make me proud. I can’t be more proud of the strides they made all year.”
Richards had beaten the Sonics by 25 points the first game of the season.
“We had to be a little bit more patient and weren’t turning the ball over as much,” Richards girls coach Dick Macy said. “Smith is a good team. We knew they’d be better than what they were during the season because they had one of their good guards out with the foot injury. After our game Wednesday, we took Thursday off because that was a hard game, and got together Friday and got ready to play.”
Saturday’s win caps a perfect 14-0 season for the Raiders.
“These kids just bought into the program, and they decided what they wanted to do this year, and they did it,” Macy said. “They worked hard and did a lot of running to get ready for this.”
BOYS
Southside 34, Richards 33
Southside;12;4;11;6;—;33
Richards;13;4;8;9;—;34
Southside: Briar Selby 1 1-2 3, Daniel Nordyke 1 0-0 2, Michael Bodart 0 1-2 1, Hayden Burt 0 0-0 0, Daniel Hoopingarner 4 0-0 8, Parker Jones 6 5-8 17, Everett Watts 0 0-0 0, Cash Murphy 0 0-0 0, Bronson Jones 1 0-0 2, Aiden Ash 0 0-1 0, Carter Chastain o 0-0 0. Totals: 13 7-13 33.
Richards: Davey Franz 1 0-0 2, Cam Kibbler 0 3-4 3, CJ Frazier 0 0-0 0, Xavier Vejariviera 0 0-0 0, Brantley Fetter 0 0-0 0, Noah Blankinship 0 0-0 0, Beckett Mocas 0 0-0 0, Owen Coomes 5 4-4 14, Jayden Wilcox 0 0-4 0, Kolton Hashman 2 1-2 5, Gavin Wilcox 3 4-6 10. Totals: 11 12-20 34.
GIRLS
Richards 41, Smith 39
Smith;6;8;11;14;—;39
Richards;8;16;7;10;—;41
Smith: Natalee Coffee 10-0 2, Renata Gonzalez 3 8-10 14, Sarah Keith 0 0-0 0, Allison Halstead 4 2-2 10, Natalie Keith 1 0-0 2, Aaliya Johnson 0 0-4 0, Alexa Young 3 5-6 11, Adriana Ayuala 0 0-0 0, Janette Berrios 0 0-0 0. Totals: 12 15-23 39.
Richards: Emily Lawson 0 0-0 0, Delaney Crider 1 0-0 2, Alivia Kellams 0 0-0 0, Hadley Andresen 10 1-3 21, Emma Gill 1 0-0 2, Bella Kintner 4 2-6 10, Rylyn Dale 0 0-0 0, Karoline Voelz 0 0-0 0, Lyla Hall 1 0-0 2, Jada Fields 2 0-3 4, Manasyn Phatak 0 0-0 0. Totals: 19 3-12 41.
