HOPE — Hauser trailed Indianapolis Lutheran by nine points toward the end of the third quarter Thursday night, and it look like the Jets were going to be bound for its second loss in as many nights.
In the fourth quarter, the Jets got refueled.
During that critical fourth period, Hauser went on a 14-0 run, and it charged them to the lead, and it held on for a 45-38 win.
The biggest spark for the Jets in the fourth quarter was, following Kyliegh Parrott’s two free throws that gave them a 37-36 lead, Aunaka Wasil, playing in her first game of the season, hit a huge 3-pointer from the right corner to give Hauser the energy needed to secure the win.
“I think we finally realized (in the second half), we started playing together and started picking it up. We were really slow it felt like in the first half in just letting things go,” Wasil said. “I think that as a team, we all came together. We all knew that we had to get at it, and we did. We had some really good defensive plays and good steals that we didn’t have in the first half.”
Points were hard to come by in the first quarter, but the Saints (1-4) jumped ahead 5-0. The Jets (2-2) got a couple baskets from Parrott to cut it to 5-4 with around two minutes left in the quarter, but the Saints led 7-4 after one.
Hauser got things going to start the second quarter with a couple baskets inside from Hannah Johnson to give the Jets their first lead of the contest 10-9 with 6:50 left in the half. It was short lived, as Lutheran scored six straight points to lead 15-10. The Jets came back to tie the game following a 3-point basket from Wasil to cap off an 8-3 run to tie the game at 18-18 at the break.
The Saints came out aggressive to start the second half to jump out to a 27-18 lead. With the score 34-25, Hauser came back to finish the third quarter with four straight points to cut it to 34-29 heading into the fourth.
After Lutheran scored, the Jets eventually regained the lead at the foul line when Parrott hit two shots to regain the lead at 37-36 with 4:22 left, setting up Wasil’s 3-pointer. Despite some turnovers down the stretch from both teams, Hauser was able to hang on for the victory.
Parrott finished with a game-high 20 points for the Jets. Hannah Johnson finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds, and Wasil added nine points.
“I kept getting on them about getting and chasing down the 50-50 balls and rebounding. I said, ‘I’m tired of you guys losing that battle. You guys have to put forth the effort,’” Hauser coach Chad Evans said. “That was a better second half effort … the girls stepped up, and Aunaka having the confidence to knock that 3 down, and that was a big changing point. That was what they needed. Then everybody started clicking, and the chemistry came together. We made some substitutions to keep people fresh, and it panned out, and we hit free throws when we needed to.”
