Sterling girls edge Hesston in double overtime (+video)

During a timeout midway through the third quarter Tuesday night, Hesston girls coach Matt Richardson implored his team to pay attention to the little details. To not slack off and give Sterling even the tiniest of openings.

Hesston had a seven-point lead at that point, and built it to eight in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t enough as visiting Sterling came back to win 62-57 in double overtime to improve to 13-1. It was Sterling coach Jill Rowland’s first win over Hesston, which is the two-time defending Class 3A champion.

“It’s a huge win for us,” said Rowland, who is in her eighth season. “Hesston is the premier 3A team in the state, defending state champion. We have the utmost respect for them. Anytime we’ve come into this building, it has generally not been a positive thing for us.”

Rowland credited her team’s defense, which held Hesston (10-4) scoreless in the final 50 seconds of the fourth quarter and final 35 seconds of the first overtime.

“We’ve had some good teams the last three years,” Rowland said. “We’ve only been to state one of those three because of tough sub-states. Honestly, it comes down to we weren’t good enough defensively. We can score points … we’ve got to box out. We’ve got to defend.”

Senior Emma Lambert came through offensively, as well. After Sterling made 5 of 19 shots over the second and third quarters, Lambert scored 16 of her team-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and overtimes.

She made the game-tying shots in both the fourth quarter and first overtime.

“Sometimes I think about things too much,” Lambert said. “In the beginning of the game, I’m like nervous or want (teammate) Kylah (Comley) to do it.

“They’re really smart and they figured out how to stop Kylah, so I was like, OK. It kind of came naturally.”

Comley, who had 19 points, scored the first points of the second overtime, while Lambert scored the next six, including a three-point play in the final minute.

“They tightened up a little bit on us, and it gave us opportunities to drive,” Rowland said. “She’s so good off the dribble. She’s so big, she can shoot over people.”

Sterling had started well, taking a 17-11 lead in the first quarter by hitting 8 of 16 shots, but then stumbled offensively. Hesston took a 25-23 lead on a Cami Richardson three with 6:38 to go in the third quarter. It was Hesston’s first lead since 5-2.

Richardson scored a game-high 23 points.

Hesston built its lead to 42-34 with 5:09 remaining by hitting 7 of 8 free throws over 90 seconds. The Swathers made 21 of 31 free throws, while Sterling was 11 of 17.

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know we were down,” Lambert said. “… The whole time I thought we were going to win.”

Hesston got a strong game from Richardson and Kailey Jo Ince, who had 19 points and eight rebounds.

“I think we underestimated ourselves,” Richardson said. “… I feel like we could have boarded a little bit better, but we worked really well in our offense.”

But Sterling’s offense got more aggressive in the second overtime, while Hesston didn’t make a field goal until six seconds remained.

This story was originally published February 2, 2016 at 10:17 PM with the headline "Sterling girls edge Hesston in double overtime (+video)."