Blue Devils go down swinging

January 15, 2003|by ANDREW MASON

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - The Greencastle-Antrim girls basketball team has a lot of the same fight tendencies as Rocky Balboa.

Battered and bruised and all but counted out, the Blue Devils magically come swinging off the ropes.

"We're the cardiac kids. It takes us a while to get going," said Greencastle coach Doug Stuart. "It seems like we don't get excited until we get behind."

Problem for the Devils on Tuesday night, though, was that they waited a tad bit too long to bounce back against visiting Mid-Penn Colonial Division foe West Perry.

The Mustangs, who led 19-13 at the half and by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, tried time and again to put Greencastle away, before finally delivering the knockout blow in the final 18 seconds.

Trailing 59-50 with a minute remaining, Alicia Thompson poured in six unanswered points to make it a three-point game - before West Perry's Allie Watson drained four straight from the foul line to seal her team's 63-56 win.

"It's a little disappointing. We scored 43 points in the second half," said Thompson, who scored 21 of her career-high 24 points in the second half with an onslaught of 15-foot jumpers. "But we played with pride and we played with heart. Unfortunately, it didn't get us the 'W.'"

After West Perry (7-8, 4-3) opened up the second half on an 8-0 run to take a 27-13 lead, Greencastle (5-7, 3-4) started slugging back. The Devils turned their defense up a notch while Thompson caught fire at the other end.

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