Endsley lifts St. Paul past Edison in OT

NORWALK — It wasn't the prettiest of wins.But, with the Firelands Conference championship out of reach, St. Paul has its eyes set on becoming better before the Division IV state tournament begins in a few weeks.The Flyers found out a lot — good and bad — Tuesday when Camille Endsley's 3-pointer lifted St. Paul to a 52-49 non-league overtime win over Edison at the Harvey Keller Gymnasium in Norwalk."That is why we put (teams) like this on the schedule," said St. Paul coach Vicky Mahl of playing the Chargers. "It is to see what we can do. It is not only things you are good at, but to see stuff we need to work on. We will come back and work on the things we need to correct."With a timeout left, Endsley made her only 3 of the night to break a 49-all tie for the Flyers (15-3). Edison got off a deep triple from near half-court that would have tied the game, but it was no good. Megan Hammersmith grabbed the rebound to seal the win over the Chargers (10-10)."You trust your girls and go from there," Mahl said. "I am proud of the kids. They did a good job tonight."Aliyah Caporini drove coast-to-coast as time ticked away in regulation and tied the game at 42 with her bucket with four seconds left. After a St. Paul timeout, a heave from Danielle Smith was well short, sending the game into overtime."Aliyah is a good ballplayer," said Mahl of the Edison junior. "We reiterated that fact numerous times. To let her do what she did to us should have never happened. Basically, it looked like we spread out and let her go to the basket."It was a free throw shooting contest for much of the overtime period. Morgan Baxter and Caporini exchanged two makes. Caporini split two free throws on her second attempt, but a score by Endlsey gave St. Paul a 46-45 lead with 2:53 left.After Edison committed one of its 22 turnovers, Baxter was fouled and she made two more free throws. Freshman Kennedy Keefer scored for the Chargers, but Baxter split two free throws for a 49-47 edge with 1:39 left. The miss snapped a streak of seven straight made free throws, which is even more impressive considering Baxter made just half of her eight attempts from the line to start the game."Without those free throws, we do not win the ballgame," Mahl said. "Props to her. Usually we are a pretty decent free throw shooting team. Tonight, Morgan kept going with that. She made them like she usually does."Caporini splashed in two free throws to tie the game with 90 seconds remaining before Endsley's heroics for the win."We came back with less than seven minutes to play and never gave up," Mahl said. "We never quit. These kind of games will help us out come tournament time."Edison looked to be in firm control when Lindsay Sneider opened the fourth quarter scoring, giving the Chargers a 34-24 lead at that point. Smith hit two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 35-30.After a St. Paul timeout, Baxter and Hammersmith scored to bring the Flyers within a point. Then, Baxter scored off of an offensive rebound to push St. Paul ahead, 36-35, with 2:59 left in regulation.The lead changed hands twice more before Kalli Quillen tied the game at 40 when she split two free throws. Baxter answered on the other end with two makes with 15.3 seconds left before Caporini tied the game."Danielle had a couple 3s where she did not exactly get her feet set," Mahl said. "You tell her it is OK and it is like the rest of them. We are going to miss shots. It is how you react to that. Tonight, we kept plugging away."Smith knocked down back-to-back 3s to open the game for St. Paul, who led, 10-9, after one quarter. Edison opened a 15-11 advantage in the second quarter after consecutive tallies by Caporini. Hammersmith scored, Baxter made two free throws, and Baxter nailed a triple to push St. Paul ahead, 18-15.The game was tied at 20 at halftime, but the Chargers' defense dominated the third quarter. They held the Flyers to 1 of 7 shooting and forced six turnovers. Edison took a 32-22 lead when Danielle Blatnik hit a jumper, but two free throws by Maddy McCall drew St. Paul within eight points after three quarters."I was a little frustrated," said Mahl about the third quarter. "I was not necessarily mad. I was just frustrated that we were working hard to get steals and then we would turn the ball over."Caporini paced Edison with 25 points while Keefer tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds.Baxter finished with 18 points for the Flyers while Smith hit five 3s on her way to 17 points."I am proud of the girls," Mahl said. "Whenever you put yourself in a position where you have a chance to win, you just have to play. We played with more enthusiasm in the fourth quarter. To be in a position to win — even when we didn't shoot well from the floor — I am proud of the girls for that."Edison held a 33-28 rebounding advantage for the game, but St. Paul out-rebounded the Chargers, 17-10 in the fourth quarter and overtime. EDISON (10-10)Aliyah Caporini 8-8—25, Lindsay Roberts 0-1—1, Olivia Vitaz 2-0—4, Kalli Quillen 1-1—3, Deana Blatnik 1-0—2, Kennedy Keefer 4-2—10, Danielle Blatnik 1-0—2, Lindsay Sneider 1-0—2. TOTALS 18-12—49. ST. PAUL (15-3)Morgan Baxter 3-11—18, Anna Lukasko 0-1—1, Megan Hammersmith 3-0—6, Camille Endsley 3-0—7, Danielle Smith 6-0—17, Maddy McCall 0-2—2, Brooke Houck 0-1—1. TOTALS 15-15—52. Edison 9 11 12 10 7 — 49St. Paul 10 10 4 18 10 — 52 3-point FGs: (E) Caporini; (STP) Smith 5, Baxter, Endsley.