The McGavock girls suffered heartbreaking 44-43 loss at the hands of Antioch last Friday night.
McGavock trailed until a late run appeared to have given the Lady Raiders the win. The Lady Raiders pulled ahead with just more than five minutes to go up 37-36. A couple of stellar plays from Kamryn Marshall helped McGavock get a 41-36 advantage.
With 1:24 left in the game and a five-point lead, senior leader Jada Johnson fouled out of the game. And everything turned.
The lead was trimmed to three with 13 seconds left, and the Raiders were to inbound. The inbounds pass was stolen, and Antioch’s Aniyah Bailey was fouled while making a layup. She missed the free throw, and the ball was loose.
Antioch recovered the ball, and Bailey put up the game winner with two seconds left, which gave the Lady Raiders a heartbreaking loss on senior night.
Johnson was one of the only Lady Raiders who had been in those types of situations, and her absence on the floor was costly.
“That’s huge,” said McGavock head coach Kim May. “The thing is, she’s just the nucleus. I think she’s the glue. She gives them that safety of Jada’s out here. Even though she’s not a key ball handler, I feel like Jada would have got open.”
The Lady Raiders went 13-for-30 from the free throw line, and May felt like that could have been the difference in a win and a loss. But in the end, May pointed the finger at herself.
“Ultimately, I just feel like it falls on me. I can’t blame the kids. It’s pretty much my fault,” she said.
The four seniors were celebrated following the game, and they will be missed at McGavock. Johnson has played for May for years at McGavock and left her mark.
Johnson remembers all the times she had to wait and work to get on the floor.
Johnson said, “I remember coming in as a freshman and not starting, working my way up to play varsity.”
“Jada’s just been a pleasure to see develop as a player,” May said. “She’s really improved. I think in her junior year, she realized, ‘I’m a pretty good basketball player.’
“She’s definitely one of my favorites I’ve coached. If I could pick my all team at McGavock, she’d be one of them. She may not be one of my best ones, but just because of her competitive spirit, I’d take her any day.”
While senior night was a tough one to lose, May saw the improvement in her team, and that’s what “means the most” to her.
“One of the things that means the most to me, is seeing the team get better,” May said. “They’ve gotten better. When you’re not a big winning program, you just want to see them get better.”
BOX SCORE
Antioch (44): Aniyah Bailey 25, Kayla Antoime 9, Jameria Clay 4, Parker Buchanon 3 and Celeste Sanders 3.
McGavock (43): Jada Johnson 24, Kamryn Marshall 14, JaMya Gooch 3 and Kameya Bridgewater 2.
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