Down 21, King Philip Girls' Basketball Rally Late to Beat Weston in 2OT

Down 21 to the Weston Wildcats with less that three minutes to go in the third quarter, it would of come to no surprise if a young King Philip girls’ basketball team with nine freshmen and sophomores on the 14 person roster simply packed it in for the night. Yet, with seconds to go in the fourth quarter, the Warriors found themselves with a chance to push the game to overtime and eventually win 72-67 in a double overtime thriller at King Philip High School.

Despite ending the first quarter down by only one, an open lane to the basket and foul trouble allowed Weston to build their lead at the free thrown line and under the hoop. Unable to work the ball down low on offense, the Warriors struggled to hang with the Wildcats as Weston took a 32-17 lead into the break.

“We’re a young team and we have some things to work on and that’s one of the things clogging the middle and rotating out,” KP head coach Sean McInnis said.

With time ticking away in the third, the Warriors started playing a full court press on defense along with a more aggressive offensive scheme that forced KP to drive to the basket. With a few free throws as a result from driving to the hoop and a couple of turnovers, the lead was cut down to 16 with a quarter to play.

“We need to become a better full court pressing team and the girls do work hard and once we’re able to get into our style of game we did much better,” McInnis said.

Down by 11 with 2:30 to go, the Warriors got a big help from Maddie Purdue (20 points) and her seven fourth quarter points including a huge three pointer to cut the lead to two late in the game.

Later, Grace Davis (8 points) gave the Warriors the ball back with a critical steal and had a chance to tie the game after a flagrant foul sent her to the free throw line and allowed the Warriors to retain possession. While Davis missed the free throws, the Warriors were able to force overtime when Brianne Micile scored off a missed shot from Emily Sullivan (15 points, 11 rebounds) to tie the game.

After briefly holding the lead, the Warriors found themselves once again down by four with the end of the extra period quickly approaching. A free throw from Davis cut the lead by one and another shot from the charity stripe by Mary Allen once again made it a one possession game.

With the defense able to force Graves to put the ball out of bounds, the Warriors were able to get possession back and force a second overtime when Miccile once again scored on the put back at the buzzer, this time off of Allen’s missed shot.

While she only scored six points Miccile showed the value of timing with the two game tying baskets and two more free throws in the second overtime to help put away Weston.

“It’s not how many you score, it’s when you score them and Bri (Miccile) score them both to send us into the overtime and to ice the game for us,” McInnis said.

Taking the lead for good, the Warriors did not trail once in the second overtime and wrapped up a five point win over the Wildcats.

The Warriors improve to 1-1 with the win.

There will be little rest for King Philip as they travel to Foxborough on December 14 for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off.