Hires' Miracle Shot Propels Redskins

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HOLLAND - One second. A one-point deficit. And the entire length of a basketball court.
 
That's doesn't usually add up to a victory.
 
Somehow Neshaminy managed to pull off the miracle against host Council Rock South on Tuesday night.
 
The Redskins tried to inbounds the ball to forward Kelsey Ryan, figuring that maybe she could get off a 60-foot desperation shot. But the pass went way over her head and looked to be headed for the wall at the end of the gym.
 
Neshaminy junior guard Brianna Hires took off after it, snatched the ball before it went out of bounds and dropped in a game-winning shot at the buzzer to give the Redskins a stunning 47-46 Suburban One National win.
 
"I thought it was going out. I didn't think I was going to get it," Hires said. "I shot it and hoped for the best."
 
"Brianna doesn't quit," Neshaminy coach Joanne McVey said. "We've seen that from her before. In our overtime loss to Tennent last week, she was the one saying, 'We're not going to lose this game.'"
 
Ryan finished with 14 points for Neshaminy. Point guard Avery Wunder scored 13, and Hires added nine.
 
Forward Emily Nowicke led CR-South with 16 points, and forward Chelsea Allen scored 11.
 
Hires' unlikely shot capped a wild fourth quarter of a back-and-forth game.
 
Neshaminy (8-7, 5-4) sprinted out to a 20-12 lead after the first quarter. The Redskins hit just about every shot and had three three-pointers in the first six minutes. Even though Neshaminy had only one field goal in the second quarter, the Redskins led by nine points at halftime, 25-16.
 
Ryan had eight points in the first quarter.
 
"We shot extremely well early. That was one of our keys to the game," McVey said.
 
Rock South (8-6, 3-4) made a huge comeback in the third quarter, fueled by Nowicke and Allen. Those two were tough and aggressive inside and scored seven points apiece in the third quarter.
 
The Golden Hawks trailed by nine, 29-20, two minutes into the second half. But a 10-0 run turned that deficit into a 30-29 lead in less than five minutes.
 
Nowicke started the run with a three-point play. She was fouled on a drive and made the free throw. Allen scored the next seven points in 1:43 on a foul shot, a layup, a fall-away jumper and a drive.
 
"We got good a good second half from Nowicke and Allen," Rock South coach Monica Young said. "We were down at the half, but I wasn't worried. We had a really good third quarter."
 
Nowicke and Allen just kept scoring. Nowicke made Rock South's final basket of the third quarter, and the pair accounted for eight of the first 10 Golden Hawks’ points in the fourth.
 
Rock South took a three-point lead, 46-43, very late in the fourth quarter on a runner by guard Lea Britton and two foul shots by forward Alex Wheatley.
 
Neshaminy closed to a point on a shot by Ryan with three seconds left. Rock South knocked the ball out of bounds after a missed front end of a one-and-one at the other end before Hires somehow ran down the final errant desperation heave.
 
"We told them not to let anybody behind them," Young said. "But we have to learn to finish games."
 
Neshaminy (47)
Brianna Hires 3 1-3 9; Avery Wunder 5 1-2 13; Chelsea Rota 1 0-0 2; Brianna Weiler 1 1-2 3; Kelsey Ryan 7 0-3 14; Jennifer Slivka 0 0-0 0; Victoria Mazzeo 0 0-0 0; Amanda Lally 2 0-0 6. Totals: 19 3-10 47.
Council Rock-South (46)
Alex Wheatley 2 2-2 6; Emily Nowicke 6 4-6 16; Lea Britton 3 1-3 7; Ann Silverthorn 2 0-1 4; Chelsea Allen 5 1-2 11; Lindsay Kirlin 0 2-2 2; Steph Gillio 0 0-0 0; Brianna Schlupp 0 0-0 0; Jackie Weber 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 10-16 46.
N: 20-5-9-13—47
CRS: 12-4-16-14—46
Three-point goals: Wunder 2, Hires 2, Lally 2 (N). 
 
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