WHITEVILLE — West Bladen’s deficit looked insurmountable.
Less than 10 seconds to go, just given up possession on a missed 3-pointer and trailing by six.
Then all heck broke loose. Plus a water bottle.
The Lady Knights were upset by host Whiteville 43-40 on Friday night in girls high school basketball. But not before they nearly staggered the basketball universe — this little corner anyway.
Trinity Smith’s free throws had given the Lady Wolfpack a 43-37 lead with 20.4 seconds left. The Lady Knights had struggled mightily since leading 11-2 and not allowing a field goal for the first seven minutes of the game.
So when the Lady Wolfpack’s Jazmin Faison rebounded a missed 3-pointer by senior Kasee Singletary, there appeared to be an end coming quickly. Until there wasn’t.
A baseline trap and a steal by senior Seniah Johnson led to a bucket with a foul with 6.1 seconds to go. And Whiteville head coach Serena Smith, upset with a player, slammed a water bottle on the floor.
Technical foul.
Johnson would attempt to complete a conventional three-point play, but only after a lengthy delay to dry an area the length of Whiteville’s bench.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Johnson said of the wait, where she casually chatted with freshman Rylee Chadwick among others. “I knew if I was, I’d miss it.”
She didn’t, and senior Mikayla Meadows was chosen for the two technical foul shots.
She was thinking “don’t miss, don’t miss, don’t miss,” she said. Each drew iron, but still, West Bladen was down 43-40 with possession at midcourt and a timeout to draw up a play. Overtime was possible.
Alas, a final 3-point attempt from the left wing by Singletary missed.
“We got too comfortable,” Meadows said of the early lead. “By the time they started catching up, it was too late.”
Johnson agreed.
Head coach Brian McCleney had a number of “what ifs” to ponder: missed layups in the first half, no player making more than one field goal in the second half, and too many fouls that led to Whiteville converting 21 of 28 at the charity stripe. West Bladen was 11 of 22, including two of five in the last quarter.
Smith was 11 of 14 at the line scoring 15 points. The Lady Knights’ head coach told his team in the first half Whiteville would only stay in the game with free throws; his team’s fouls led to 10 free points by intermission, at which point West Bladen led 22-16.
Chadwick paced the Lady Knights with eight points and sophomore Haley George added seven.
Johnson insisted there was no hangover from a close loss to rival East Bladen last time out. Meadows overcame a nasty scrape on her palm and a turned ankle, going to the locker room in the third quarter but coming back to finish the last 4:40.
“I’ll be all right,” she assured.
Johnson said the team can be, too; it just needs to refocus with confidence.
They get that chance Tuesday at West Columbus, a team with only one win all season. West Bladen is 9-3 in the Three Rivers Conference, 12-5 overall. Whiteville climbed to 8-4 in the league and 11-7 overall.
West Bladen’s Elexis Corrothers tries to catch up to Whiteville’s Trinity Smith on Friday night.
West Bladen head coach Brian McCleney gives instruction to his team during Friday’s 43-40 loss at Whiteville.
West Bladen’s Lainey Autry looks through Emly Hewett for a teammate on Friday evening.