New London rallies for district win

FREMONT — There is no replicating it. The New London girls basketball team has five senior starters that have been varsity players for their entire career. Facing a seven-point deficit with 10 minutes left in regulation of Wednesday's Division VI district semifinal against Woodmore, the Wildcats never wavered. In fact, they got better. "They never panicked or got nervous," NL head coach Eric Mitchell said. "They've been playing too long together in too many games like this to do that at this point." New London never led in regulation, then turned to leading scorer Valery Henry to advance them on. Henry made eight consecutive free throws in overtime to lift the 'Cats to a 40-34 win at Fremont Ross High School. New London (21-3) will face Toledo Ottawa Hills (16-8) at 3 p.m. Saturday in a district championship game at Napoleon High School. "We've been in games like this that we've both won and lost," Mitchell said. "The girls stepped up in big moments, and then Valery slammed the door with eight straight free throws. That's stuff you are going to remember for a long time." After Gracie Thomas made a 3-pointer with 4:02 left in the third, Woodmore (17-7) got a 3 with 2:21 remaining from its leading scorer, Kelsey Kaylor, to make it 25-18. New London was able to get the deficit down to 26-21 to end the third quarter as Raeann Mitchell split two foul shots and Pailee Wilson scored her first basket of the game. Wilson then opened the fourth quarter with a basket at the 7:02 mark to make it 26-23, only for Woodmore's Keira Travis to make another 3 with 6:24 left. But from there, New London held Woodmore scoreless for the final 6:24 of regulation and went to work. Henry scored at the 6:02 mark, then Olivia Yetter split two free throws at the 4:47 mark. Henry drove to the rim and was fouled with 3:14 left, and she made both to make it a 29-28 deficit. On New London's next possession, she was fouled with 1:55 left and split the pair to tie the game. After Kaylor missed two free throws with 1:48 left, Thomas grabbed the rebound, and Coach Mitchell opted for the last shot. He had his team work the clock down from 1:29 to 11.7 seconds left, where he used his team's final timeout. However, a Henry pass from the right wing sailed out of bounds, as her intended target, Thomas, was falling down. That gave Woodmore the ball with 5.1 seconds left. After Henry fouled with 2.1 seconds left, a last-ditch 3 by Kaylor caught the rim but was off the mark to send the game to overtime. "I trust them enough to do that," Mitchell said of holding the ball for a final shot. "They did a great job of executing and running the clock. It kind of broke down and didn't work when Gracie fell, but I truly think late in the game, Woodmore kind of started to force things, and we were playing loose." Thomas was fouled with 2:43 left in overtime and again when she rebounded a Woodmore miss with 1:52 left. She made two of the four foul shots for a 31-29 lead. Her free throws were the first time New London had the lead in 33:17 of game time. After a Woodmore miss, Wilson was fouled with 1:14 left and also split two free throws. Woodmore's Camille Strong kept the pressure on when she was fouled and made both free throws with 1:09 left for a 32-31 deficit. But the final minute belonged to Henry. Fouled with 40 seconds left, she made both. Strong scored easily with 31.1 seconds to go to again keep it a one-point game, but then Henry was fouled before the ball was inbounded. She made both for a 36-33 lead with 30.5 seconds to go. Woodmore split a pair with 21.2 seconds left after Thomas fouled out to make it 36-34, only for Henry to again be fouled with 17.1 seconds remaining. She made both to make it a two-possession game. After a Woodmore miss, she was fouled again with just 2.4 seconds left and made both for the final margin of victory. "On the final play in the fourth, we were trying to run her off a triple to the corner," Mitchell said of Henry. "She knew it was a mistake. Before we even got on the bus, I told her when she just plays and lets the game happen, she is a tremendous talent. "Valery is overlooked because of how balanced we are with our scoring, but we want the ball in her hands," he added. "Not only because she can knock down free throws, but also because she's not going to waver. But I don't think any of our girls did." New London had a brutal start. Kaylor and Strong opened the game with back-to-back 3s for a 6-0 lead. NL also turned the ball over seven times in the opening quarter. But still, despite trailing 9-2 after another 3 from Kaylor, NL recovered to trail just 9-6 after back-to-back scores from Raeann Mitchell. Down 15-10 with 2:25 left in the half, NL scored five straight points from two Henry foul shots and a basket underneath the hoop from Addison Yetter. Kaylor scored with 16.4 seconds left, and Wilson didn't get a good look to fall at the buzzer for a 17-15 deficit. "We told the girls all week that Woodmore seems to start fast and they are athletic, and they were both those things," Coach Mitchell said. "We thought our 1-3-1 would slow them down a bit, but they were knocking down shots, and we had to do something different. "I kind of questioned it, but once we jumped into man defense, we seemed to settle down. We contested a little better and ran them off the three-point line. That made them attack more, and Gracie and Pailee are just so big inside there to alter so many shots to help us out." Henry made 13 of 14 free throws and scored a game-high 17 points for New London. Thomas added nine points and seven rebounds. The Wildcats fell to Danbury in a district title game when the current seniors were sophomores. Now, they will make the 115-mile trip to Napoleon with a chance at a regional appearance. "It's hard to get to this point, and this is our fourth time in a district final since I've been here," Mitchell said. "We've won one, and we'll prep and work as hard as we can to try and get another. "We will give everything we've got like we did tonight, because these girls aren't ready to be done, and I'm not ready to give this team up, either." WOODMORE (17-7) Camille Strong 4-2—11; Ariane Florio 0-1—1; Keira Travis 1-2—5; Karli Heins 1-1—3; Emma Hahn 0-1—1; Kelsey Kaylor 5-0—13. TOTALS 11-7—34. NEW LONDON (21-3) Raeann Mitchell 2-2—6; Addison Yetter 1-0—2; Valery Henry 2-13—17; Oliiva Yetter 0-1—1; Pailee Wilson 2-1—5; Gracie Thomas 3-2—9. TOTALS 10-19—40. Woodmore 9 8 9 5 5 — 34 N. London 6 9 6 8 11 — 40 Three-point FGs: (W) Kaylor 3, Strong, Travis; (NL) Thomas.