Monticello coach Josh McElheny described it as the “only look” his team had. Down by two with 1.3 seconds on the clock and inbounding the ball at its own end, the Mustangs ran the play their coach had drawn up in a timeout, and Bridget Holleran jumped off of one leg, heaved the ball across her body and watched her shot bank off the glass and fall through the net with the buzzer going off. A mere 10 seconds of play before that, and Monticello was down by four. Instead of facing a loss on senior night, they swiped what looked like certain victory from Charlottesville, 50-48.
“We made the only shot we had the opportunity to make,” McElheny said. “We never gave up and that was the big thing.”
While it was Holleran’s final second heroics that officially won the game, teammate Molly Shepherd laid the foundation with six ticks on the clock when she knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 48-47. The Black Knights then turned the ball over to Cierra Hall who gave it to guard Megan Comer. The freshman raced up the court to take what looked like the last shot of the game, which careened off the side of the back board. However, officials ruled that the ball had been tipped by a Charlottesville player, and as such, the Mustangs got the ball underneath their own basket with 1.3 second to set up Holleran’s game winner.
“All I knew was that I needed to knock it down, but I still can’t believe it,” Holleran said. “I didn’t have a good look. I kind of just threw it up and it went in.”
Behind London Todd, Monique Perkins and Sidney Calloway, the Black Knights led most of the way through, taking a 6-point lead into halftime. That two possession difference stayed in Charlottesville’s favor until late in the fourth when Monticello tied the game up at 42. But CHS scored six of the next eight points to reclaim the 2-basket margin.
“Something we talked about tonight was just going out there and playing on senior night and just having a good time because we’ve done the work,” McElheny said. “I still feel like we came out a bit tight to start with – we were supposed to just be having a good time. We haven’t given up all year long and that’s something we’ve been working on, so I thought we played very well.”
With 10 seconds left, everything swung the Mustangs way.
Comer led all scorers with her 16 points while Holleran finished with 14. For the Black Knights, Perkins scored a team best 13 points while both Todd and Calloway added 12.
Charlottesville, the fourth seed in the Jefferson District tournament, will get to host fifth seeded Louisa County on Friday at 6 p.m.
Monticello heads into the JD tournament as the number two seed and has earned a first round bye as a result. They will play the winner of Western Albemarle and Fluvanna County on Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Western Albemarle.
