Climax-Fisher Girl’s Basketball’s late comeback falls short against Stephen-Argyle

The Climax-Fisher Knights Girls’ Basketball team, after trailing by 17 early, closed the lead down to 3, but the Stephen-Argyle Storm hit clutch shots down the stretch to hold on and win 54-47 in the Section 8A Tournament Play-In.

FIRST HALF –
The first half started perfectly for Stephen-Argyle, as the Storm got a 3-pointer from Nora Osowski and free throws from Ayla Woinarowicz to put the Storm up 9-0 a minute and a half in. The Knights had no answer for the lockdown Storm defense, and their red-hot shooting to open the half. Osowski hit three triples and Westman added one of her own to put the Storm up 22-5 with under 11 minutes left. Climax-Fisher would not go down without a fight, however, and their defense increased their intensity and became extremely disruptive. Lucy Paulsrud gathered 3 steals in just under a minute, and the Knights began clawing their way back. After a Woinarowicz free throw made it 27-10 with 8:54 left, the Knights held the Storm scoreless for over 6 minutes and slowly clawed their way back into the game, going on an 11-0 run to cut the lead down to 6, at 27-21. Another 3-pointer by the Storm and two final free throws by Brooklyn Hoffman sent the game into halftime with the Storm up 30-23.

SECOND HALF –
As the second half began, the pace significantly slowed down, and both teams began to run very sloppy offense. Turnovers were very plentiful, and this played into the hands of the Knights, as they began to pound the ball inside, giving Brooklyn Hoffman more opportunities, and when she wasn’t making the shots, she was getting to the free throw line. However, the Storm began to do the same thing, giving the ball more to Woinarowicz. After the Knights cut the lead down to 34-31, the Storm went on a 10-2 run on purely layups to take a 44-33 lead. Climax-Fisher continued to claw back, as an Anna Nesvig bucket cut the lead down to 5, but that would be the closest the Knights would get for the remainder of the contest. Clutch free throws by Isabelle Westman rose the lead to 8, and a scoop shot by Jocelyn Groven put the game on ice, and the Storm would hang on to win, 54-47

Stephen-Argyle improves to 9-16 and will take on Warren-Alvarado-Oslo in the Section 8A Quarterfinals on Thursday at UMC. Climax-Fisher’s season comes to an end with an 8-19 record.