Harrison holds off Lady Pointers, 43-38

Harrison’s Marion Groberg seemed to be one step ahead of the Van Buren Lady Pointers on Thursday night. Groberg scored nine points and gobbled up 12 rebounds to pace Harrison to a 43-38 win at Clair Bates Arena. “She was a definite factor in the game,” Van Buren coach Chris Bryant said. “Every time we tried to put a run together, hit a couple of shots in a row, she would find a way to get an offensive rebound. There would be a deflection or a loose ball, and it seemed like she would always come up with it.” Harrison (9-2) made just 2-of-10 field goals to start the game, giving the Pointers (6-3) a chance stretch a 10-6 lead. But Van Buren, just 5-of-21 to start the game from the floor, failed to take advantage of Harrison’s slow start. And Brylie Parker made them pay. Parker hit two treys to fuel an 11-5 run to close the half, and her fourth trey of the game with with four minutes left gave the Goblins their biggest lead of the night at 35-29. But the Pointers’ Kayleigh Evans, who had 10 points off the bench, hit a layup to draw Van Buren to within four, and Lexi Millers’ steal and driving layup cut the deficit to two with 3:23 left. Harrison turned the ball over with 2:21 left, but Evans missed a twisting shot in the lane that could have tied it. After that, the Goblins hit 8-of-8 free throw attempts in the final 1:11 to help put the game away. Miller’s layup with 23.4 left pulled Van Buren to within 39-38, but Parker calmly sank two foul shots with 14.8 to stretch the Goblins’ lead back to three. “Harrison’s a really good squad; they came in here and brought the fight to us,” Bryant said. “Our offense affected our defense a little bit, and it kind of put us on our heels. I thought going into halftime we would get a chance to come back out and rededicate ourselves defensively, but they seemed a step quicker and seemed to get every 50-50 ball. That’s something we’ll learn from on film and have an opportunity to correct.”

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Van Buren High School Athletics

HARRISON HOLDS OFF LADY POINTERS, 43-38

KEVIN TAYLOR

Times Record | 12/21/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Aaron Shaffer