Birchfield foul shots propel Jr. Lady Highlanders past Sulphur Springs
Published 8:52 am Monday, February 4, 2019
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips With every eye in the gym on her, Cloudland Elementary's Kendall Birchfield gets set to make a foul shot with no time left in the game. Birchfield's foul shots would lead to the Jr. Highlanders defeating Sulphur Springs 38-37 in the TMSSAA Class A East Sectional semifinals.
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips The Jr. Lady Highlanders surround Kendall Birchfield as her father and head coach, Matt Birchfield, raises her in the air in celebration. All the excitement came after Kendall Brichfield knocked down a couple foul shots to give Cloudland Elementary a big win over Sulphur Springs.
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips Cloudland Elementary's Ryan Turbyfill looks across court for a teammate.
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips Cloudland's Saharra McKinney pushes up court.
Star Photo/Bryce Phillips Cloudland's Izabella Christman puts up a shot.
With zero seconds showing on the clock and the Jr. Lady Highlanders trailing 37-36 in overtime, Cloudland Elementary’s Kendall Birchfield stepped up to the foul line all by herself after getting fouled at the 3-point line as the buzzer sounded.
Birchfield held it together as she knocked down two of her three foul shots to give the Jr. Lady Highlanders a 38-37 win over Sulphur Springs in the TMSSAA Class A East Sectional Semifinals Thursday at John Sevier High School.
“I was really nervous,” said Birchfield. “I told myself I couldn’t do it. And everyone was telling me I could. When I missed the second one, I was really nervous.
“I was just in shock,” added Birchfield about when her third shot fell through to give the Jr. Lady Highlanders the win.
The win earned the Jr. Lady Highlanders a spot at the sectional championships which was played this Saturday. A win in the championship would send the Jr. Lady Highlanders to the first ever TMSSAA State Basketball Championships.
In the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game, the Jr. Lady Highlanders led 33-30 with just seconds left on the clock before Sulphur Springs’ Emma Painter knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, 33-33.
“That was just tough,” said Cloudland Elementary head coach Matt Birchfield about Sulphur Springs sending the game into overtime. “We just didn’t execute our game plan. They hit the shot and tied the game. Our kids just stayed resilient.”
In overtime, Sulphur Springs worked out to a 37-34 lead before Cloudland’s Saharra McKinney knocked down a foul shot and Birchfield hit a bucket to make it a 37-36 game with time running out.
Coming out of the third quarter, the Jr. Lady Highlanders trailed 23-19. Sulphur Springs moved its lead to 25-19 early in the fourth before Cloudland went on a six-point run to tie the game up at 25-25 with Birchfield, McKinney, and Izabella Christman all hitting buckets in the rally. The teams fought to a 30-30 tie before heading into overtime after Painter’s 3-pointer.
At the half, the Lady Jr. Lady Highlanders held a 13-9 lead before Sulphur Springs connected on 12 straight points to jump out 21-16 before taking a 23-19 lead into the fourth.
Christman led the Jr. Lady Highlanders with 13 points while McKinney followed up with ten points. Birchfield finished with eight.
