Oak Ridge is in the tournament finals, thanks to a buzzer-beating 12-footer by Bri Dunbar
that lifted the Wildcats to a 50-48 win over Morristown West in the second of two exciting
semifinal games Friday night.
Morristown West staged a tremendous
second half rally when some might have given them up for dead. They were behind the potent Wildcats
32-15 at halftime and trailed by as many as 19 points with 6:21 left in the third
quarter.
But they responded to start cutting the gap and used a 15-4
run at one point in the second half to get back in it. They finally tied the count at 44-44 with
2:36 left in the contest when Angel Simms banked in a layup.
The two squads
traded blows with Oak Ridge's Khamari Michell-Steen scoring a basket with 35 seconds to go to tie
the score.
Morristown West worked the clock down inside 10 seconds but
made a turnover, and Oak Ridge got up the floor quickly with Dunbar hitting the basket just prior
to the final horn sounding.
Oak Ridge (14-2) was led by Jada Guinn
with 25 points while Dunbar finished with 10.
Morristown West (13-2) got 19
points from Blayre Shultz and 13 from Macey Hefner.
OAK RIDGE (50):
Mitchell-Steen 4-9 0-0 9, Bri Dunbar 3-8 2-6 10, Eckles 1-3 0-0 2, Copeland 1-3 1-2 3, Jada Guinn
11-16 3-4 25, Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Brewer 0-0 0-0 0, Holt 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 20-41 7-10
50.
MORRISTOWN WEST
(48): Blayre Shultz 7-19 2-2 19, Seals 1-1 2-2 5, Howard 3-4 0-0 7,
Macey Hefner 5-11 3-6 13, Simms 2-2 0-0 4, Wallen 0-0 0-0 0, Lovelace 0-1 0-0 0, Mattison 0-1 0-0
0, Ewing 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-39 7-10 48.
3-Point Goals: OR--3 (Dunbar 2, Mitchell-Steen).
MW--5 (Shultz 3, Seals, Howard).
Score by quarters:
Oak Ridge
15 17 7
11--50
Morristown West
5
10 15 18--48