SPRINGFIELD — With the exception of two games in a starting role, Megan Tong has been cheering on her teammates and getting prepared to play basketball when the first 19 seconds run off the clock.
But Saturday, with 7:41 still to play in the opening quarter against Anna in a high stakes Div. III Southwest District championship game, Tong was on the Springfield High School hardwood, ball in hand.
Ready or not.
“I’m usually getting ready to prepare myself, being a good teammate on the bench” said Tong, a senior guard.
Kami Whiteaker, though, went down with an ankle injury after draining a three-point field goal for the first points of the game.
Not only did Tong have to play but she had to enter the game without warming up and go directly to the free throw line. Whiteaker was fouled on the made shot but when she came down she landed on the Anna player’s foot. Whiteaker twisted her ankle and had to go to the bench. “
“In that moment, I was focused on knocking down this free throw,” Tong said. “I just had a teammate who had a wonderful play, a wonderful shot. I had to do it (make free throw) for her.
Tong came in, hit the free throw for a 4-0 lead then helped East Clinton at both ends of the floor to a 58-51 win over Anna.
The Astros (24-2) will play Versailles (16-10) 8 p.m. Wednesday at Springfield HS in a Region 12 semifinal game. The winner plays again 1 p.m. Saturday in the Region 12 championship game against either Cincinnati Country Day or Columbus Africentric. Those two teams play 6 p.m. Wednesday at SHS.
East Clinton had a 9-0 lead then led 27-16 late in the second quarter. Tong, who averaged just five points a game during the season, hit a big three to make it 30-16. With the final seconds going off the clock, Tong hit another three to put East Clinton up 17 at the half.
After Tong’s nine-point first half and leading scorer Libby Evanshine on the bench with an injury, Anna focused more on Tong in the second half. She was OK with that.
“The other team isn’t really thinking about me so they play off,” Tong admitted. “They were taking away my shot at the end, so I had to work on my defense, my rebounding and put my heart in to that.”
That whatever it takes mentality was critical down the stretch. Anna cut a 20-point deficit to four, 52-48 inside the final two minutes. Evanshine was joined on the bench by Jordan Collom, who fouled out. Whiteaker was still somewhat gimpy but played through her injury.
Tong’s defense and rebounding late in the game helped East Clinton maintain the lead and advance in the tournament. Tong averaged just 2.2 rebounds during the season but had five on Saturday with three of those coming in key moments in the fourth quarter.
“She’s played good all year for us but the last five or six games she has really stepped it up,” EC head coach Bill Bean said.
CALL HER MONEY: Whiteaker’s game was full of highs and lows.
She hit a right-wing three-pointer to start the scoring, was fouled on the play but goes to the bench with an ankle injury and can’t shoot the ensuring free throw.
Whiteaker did return, though, to play a key role in the win but 19 seconds in to the game, she wasn’t so sure.
“I thought I was done,” Whiteaker said after the injury. “But I knew that my team needed me. I had to power through the pain and suck it up.”
Whiteaker did that and more.
Because she was injured, Whiteaker did not shoot that free throw on the first basket of the game. But in the end, Whiteaker hobbled to the free throw line seemingly every possession.
With East Clinton’s trip to the regional tournament slipping away with seemingly every possession in the fourth quarter, Whiteaker went 10 for 13 from the line all in the final 2:56 to help seal the win for the Astros.
A 71 percent free throw shooter for the season, Whiteaker was confident she’d convert at the line when given the chance.
“I have my routine,” she said. “Take a deep breath … there’s this joke between me and (coach) Brian Barnes. He says I need to take a deep breath and say ‘Brian is cool.’ That’s been since my freshman year when I go to the line.”
UP NEXT: Versailles is a member of the Midwest Athletic Conference. More known for its prowess in football, the MAC is one of the best conferences for girls basketball in the state.
So a 12-10 regular season record doesn’t mean this team is ready to pack its bags and give East Clinton a win.
“The schedule they play all year … that’s why they have (10) losses,” Bean said. “They got hot at the end of the year. They have a couple of bigger girls. When you get to this point in the season, they’re all going to be good.”
TO LIBBY OR NOT TO LIBBY: Evanshine missed more than half of Saturday’s win with a lower extremity injury.
Will she play Wednesday? Her status would likely be listed as “questionable.”
“When she went down, I’m thinking we’re going to have to carry her off,” Bean said. “We’re hoping it’s not as bad as we initially thought. There in the fourth quarter, when I’m walking to the end of the bench, she’s our biggest cheerleader. I just hope she can bounce back and be ready for Wednesday.”
MURPHY LAW: Jayden Murphy hit a three-pointer in each of the first three quarters, all big shots in the win.
Last season, Murphy made a trio of three-pointers in tournament wins over Madeira, Preble Shawnee and Marion Pleasant, the latter two games being at Springfield.
“She had a good two or three games up her last year and tonight (against Anna) she shot it well again,” Bean said.
