4A-II girls: Andale knocks off Clay Center in overtime

Andale girls basketball coach Ted Anderson has seen his team lose close games because of missed free throws. He didn’t want that to happen Thursday at the Class 4A-II tournament and it didn’t, as the Indians upset defending state champions Clay Center 47-36 in overtime at White Auditorium.

Andale knocked down 11 of 12 free throws in the overtime period to pull away after the teams ended regulation tied at 34. The Tigers scored just two points in overtime and those two points didn’t come until a steal and score with 20 seconds to go. Andale shot 89 percent from the foul line (16 of 18) in the game.

“We’ve been on the short end of games this season,” Anderson said. “Free throws have been something that we have been trying to get better at this year. I knew we were going to have a chance and we just played extremely well in that overtime period.”

Neither team could get much to go in the first quarter, as the defenses owned the game. Andale came out in a 2-3 zone, while Clay Center came out in a tough man-to-man defense.

“We wanted to try and get a shot every time down,” Anderson said. “They are as good of a defensive team that we faced all year along with McPherson.”

The fourth quarter began with Andale holding onto 25-22 lead, but the Tigers went on an 8-2 run and grabbed a 30-27 lead with 5:38 to go. The Indians responded with a 5-0 run of their own to reclaim the lead. The teams went back and forth down the stretch, as their was four ties in the final eight minutes of regulation.

Jill Bergkamp and Bria Gutschenritter both scored 10 points to pace Andale while Rachel Bergkamp added 8 points and 11 rebounds. Morgan Geist also contributed with 6 points and 8 rebounds. The Bergkamp sisters were a big part of the overtime period, going 7 for 8 from the foul line.

This story was originally published March 9, 2017 at 6:45 PM with the headline "4A-II girls: Andale knocks off Clay Center in overtime."