Source: Brent Lewis / Getty
It didn’t take someone with the background of James Naismith to figure out that Africentric had to overwhelm Metamora Evergreen with girl power to win in a Division III regional championship game.
Both teams were smart, skilled and hard-nosed, but the Nubians had a bench almost long enough to field another starting five, while the Vikings had one substitute.
That depth forced 17 turnovers, and senior guard Zharia Lenoir scored 25 points to enable Africentric to surge late in the third quarter and early in the fourth to pull off a 59-55 victory over Evergreen on Saturday afternoon before a crowd of almost 1,500.
The Nubians (22-6), who advanced to the state tournament for the seventh time and fourth time in the last five seasons, scored 32 points off the bench to four for the Vikings (24-3).
“What pulled us through was our being able to handle all their pressure they put on us,’’ Lenoir said. “We took good shots and handled the ball well.’’
Evergreen got within 53-47 with 4:02 left after the fourth straight free throw by Hannah Herr, and the Vikings huge crowd sensed a dramatic comeback.
But Lenoir hit a driving layup with 1:57 left and Kynnedy Azubike made two free throws with 44.9 seconds left to give Africentric a 57-49 lead.
“What made us pull through is we said, ‘We’re here so let’s finish this thing out,’’’ Morrow said.
via Dispatch
