ALBANY - After yelling, "Team!" and breaking the Comets' huddle at the start of double overtime Tuesday night, Megan Schulz turned to her left and coughed her heart out.
Then she struggled out to center court where her dead, sick legs couldn't win the jumpball. Three and a half minutes later, facing the potential end of her prep career, Schulz went to work.
With her team clinging to a three-point, 63-60 lead - and all the Comets battling a respiratory illness - in a WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal versus Faith Christian, the Albany sports staple pinned down a 65-63 victory by tracking down two loose balls and hitting two free throws to put things on ice.
She first ran down a steal in the far left corner on defense and barely kept her feet long enough to turn and pass the ball away before her legs crumbled beneath her. Less than a minute after classmate Amy Golz's front end bonus free throw rattled out, Schulz yanked down a tough defensive rebound before contact by Eagles sophomore Kara Flikkema sent her falling out of bounds.
Unfazed, she trotted down the hardwood and splashed her freebies with eight seconds left. A 3-pointer by Laken Love, the fourth by the Faith Christian senior, cut the final margin to two, but Golz took the inbounds pass and took down the last two ticks.
"I knew if I didn't get there, it could be my last game," Schulz said. "I just had to be strong and get my hands on the ball."
Schulz and another senior, Alexa Webb, were the most effected by the respiratory ailment that plagued both teams. Comets coach Brandon Bakken, who failed to avoid the bug himself, still wasn't surprised about his players' resilience.
"None of these girls are ready to be done," Bakken said. "Megan is one of the hardest workers on the team and she really stepped up and did the things that sometimes go unnoticed."
"You can tell she's been doing it for three years now," Golz said.
Golz, the Comets' senior captain, had a game-high 24 points and freshman Hayli Peach, the only Comet not under the weather, simply took over in the second half as the Albany forwards were admittedly relying on the perimeter to carry the offense.
While the savvy senior Schulz had the final say, Peach breathed life back into her team's collective lungs when she hit a 3-pointer from the right angle at the regulation buzzer to force overtime at 54-54.
"Oh my God, I didn't think that was going in," Peach said. "I was supposed to get a screen set for me, but I didn't; I just stood there and shot it."
The heroics were made necessary when Eagles senior Anna Wasmund, who coach Dick Ackatz said was "on her death bed" Tuesday morning, hit an impromptu triple off a broken play with eight seconds left.
"She wasn't supposed to take that shot and we wanted to take it with a little less time left so they wouldn't have a chance to tie," Ackatz said, "but she made the shot, and I'll take the 3-pointer and a chance to win the game, I was very proud of her."
Love led the Eagles with 23 points and Flikkema, a post, added 22.
However, evidently not satisfied by the drama of the game-tying goal, Peach kept the highlight reel running when she gave Albany the lead for good at 60-59. After Love chased down a rebound, Peach sprinted to step in front of an outlet pass intended for Becca Brandes and absorbed a bump before falling to her right, body twisted, and threw up a highly-improbably, over-the-shoulder banker that somehow went.
"I wasn't doing a whole lot in the second half and we needed that second spark so bad," Golz said.
Moments later, Golz splashed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, set up by a textbook jump-stop and kickout by Peach as she leapt left to right across the free throw line.
Schulz has been around Comets hoops for a long time and even she had a hard time deciding which Peach highlight she liked more.
"I was more happy with the 3-pointer because that meant our season was still going," Schulz said. "but the over-the-back shot was pretty impressive."
Then she struggled out to center court where her dead, sick legs couldn't win the jumpball. Three and a half minutes later, facing the potential end of her prep career, Schulz went to work.
With her team clinging to a three-point, 63-60 lead - and all the Comets battling a respiratory illness - in a WIAA Division 4 regional quarterfinal versus Faith Christian, the Albany sports staple pinned down a 65-63 victory by tracking down two loose balls and hitting two free throws to put things on ice.
She first ran down a steal in the far left corner on defense and barely kept her feet long enough to turn and pass the ball away before her legs crumbled beneath her. Less than a minute after classmate Amy Golz's front end bonus free throw rattled out, Schulz yanked down a tough defensive rebound before contact by Eagles sophomore Kara Flikkema sent her falling out of bounds.
Unfazed, she trotted down the hardwood and splashed her freebies with eight seconds left. A 3-pointer by Laken Love, the fourth by the Faith Christian senior, cut the final margin to two, but Golz took the inbounds pass and took down the last two ticks.
"I knew if I didn't get there, it could be my last game," Schulz said. "I just had to be strong and get my hands on the ball."
Schulz and another senior, Alexa Webb, were the most effected by the respiratory ailment that plagued both teams. Comets coach Brandon Bakken, who failed to avoid the bug himself, still wasn't surprised about his players' resilience.
"None of these girls are ready to be done," Bakken said. "Megan is one of the hardest workers on the team and she really stepped up and did the things that sometimes go unnoticed."
"You can tell she's been doing it for three years now," Golz said.
Golz, the Comets' senior captain, had a game-high 24 points and freshman Hayli Peach, the only Comet not under the weather, simply took over in the second half as the Albany forwards were admittedly relying on the perimeter to carry the offense.
While the savvy senior Schulz had the final say, Peach breathed life back into her team's collective lungs when she hit a 3-pointer from the right angle at the regulation buzzer to force overtime at 54-54.
"Oh my God, I didn't think that was going in," Peach said. "I was supposed to get a screen set for me, but I didn't; I just stood there and shot it."
The heroics were made necessary when Eagles senior Anna Wasmund, who coach Dick Ackatz said was "on her death bed" Tuesday morning, hit an impromptu triple off a broken play with eight seconds left.
"She wasn't supposed to take that shot and we wanted to take it with a little less time left so they wouldn't have a chance to tie," Ackatz said, "but she made the shot, and I'll take the 3-pointer and a chance to win the game, I was very proud of her."
Love led the Eagles with 23 points and Flikkema, a post, added 22.
However, evidently not satisfied by the drama of the game-tying goal, Peach kept the highlight reel running when she gave Albany the lead for good at 60-59. After Love chased down a rebound, Peach sprinted to step in front of an outlet pass intended for Becca Brandes and absorbed a bump before falling to her right, body twisted, and threw up a highly-improbably, over-the-shoulder banker that somehow went.
"I wasn't doing a whole lot in the second half and we needed that second spark so bad," Golz said.
Moments later, Golz splashed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, set up by a textbook jump-stop and kickout by Peach as she leapt left to right across the free throw line.
Schulz has been around Comets hoops for a long time and even she had a hard time deciding which Peach highlight she liked more.
"I was more happy with the 3-pointer because that meant our season was still going," Schulz said. "but the over-the-back shot was pretty impressive."
