The Cardinals needed a miracle in their overtime win over Clay Center in a game that played out like a movie, which had everything from a double-digit comeback, a game-tying three to force overtime and, finally, the win.
Senior Harper Schreiner had a stellar game with 22 points and 10 steals, including the game-tying three to send the game into overtime. Watch the video of that shot here.
“You live for the moments where you hit a shot to take it into overtime and go win it, especially in the state tournament,” Schreiner said. “How much better can it get?”
Schreiner said assistant coach Jeremy Thomas gave her a message before the final possession of regulation.
“Coach Thomas said, ‘If you get the shot, you take it and be confident’ and that’s what I did in those last seconds,” she said.
Sophomore Lainey Orr poured in 11 points and 4 rebounds and made clutch shots in the second half to help secure the victory.
Orr was overcome with emotion after the overtime thriller.
“After we won, I was so emotional because that’s my family, and I was just thinking, ‘I want to keep going, I want to keep playing,’ so I think all that emotion hit me,” Orr said. “We were down 18 at one point. That’s crazy we came back, and I’m just so proud.”
The Cardinals extended their program record to 22 wins and a record winning streak of 22 games.
“I think it all just builds on how much we love the sport and how much we want our season to continue,” senior Abby Watson said. “We put in the work in the gym, and we make sure that we’re focused during practice and having fun when we’re out of practice.”
Despite a rough start, the Cardinals began to resemble the team that had won 21 straight games with each passing quarter.
“I knew we had it in us. We fought back from games like this before,” senior Mackenzie Mayer said. “It shows that we can push through almost anything. We were down by so much and we just fought back.”
Eudora typically feasts off of its opponents’ turnovers, but only scored 4 points off them in the first half. In the second half, they scored 16 points off turnovers, fueling the second half comeback.
“This game showed us what we needed to work on, especially offensive-wise,” Watson said. “People were doubling up on Harper, so we had to make sure others were able to play, and a lot of people stepped up and filled those shoes.”
The win was the result of a complete team effort with the Cardinal bench outscoring Clay Center’s 11-2 for the game. Head coach Brandon Parker said increased defensive pressure and rebounding in the second half were key in the win.
“We weren’t running what we had been practicing, so that was disappointing, so we had to make that change or else we didn’t have a chance,” he said.
Eudora (22-1) will face Wamego (21-2) at 6 p.m. Friday for a chance to go to the title game. Eudora defeated Wamego 48-38 on Jan. 22 in their only meeting this season.
Parker was inspired by the grit his team showed during Wednesday’s win.
“I think a bunch of people in the world should bottle what they got and use it,” Parker said. “Our world could use a lot more resolve, like these kids have.”
Reach sports editor Chris Fortune at [email protected].
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