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51-50; Battle of unbeatens goes OT to Fleming Island

By Randy Lefko
Posted 12/13/17

OAKLEAF – Oakleaf High’s girls basketball team got a game of games from guard Sabria Littles, who dominated both ends of the court for the previously unbeaten Lady Knights to keep Oakleaf within …

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51-50; Battle of unbeatens goes OT to Fleming Island


Posted

OAKLEAF – Oakleaf High’s girls basketball team got a game of games from guard Sabria Littles, who dominated both ends of the court for the previously unbeaten Lady Knights to keep Oakleaf within a foul shot of upending the also previously unbeaten Golden Eagles. Fleming Island won 51-50 off a free throw from guard Tia Robinson.

In the final stanza, an overtime stanza that came after the Knights tied game at 45-45 with 3:01 to go behind steals, assists and layups from Littles, Fleming Island tried to hang on and keep their unbeaten record in tact.

Oakleaf took the lead at 42-41 off a three pointer from guard Andrea Diaz Merced with 1:10 left in the game to swing the momentum to the Lady Knights.

Littles, with a free throw, a steal and a steal to assist to Dajah Oden, had the Lady Knights up 50-45 with 1:02 left in the overtime before Fleming Island guard Tia Robinson answered with a jumper and guard Mariah Martin added a steal to a layup to put the score at 50-49 with just 32 seconds on the clock.

Robinson backed into the paint against Littles in a last effort to at least tie the game and got fouled after hitting the layup, but she missed the free throw to leave the game tied at 43-43 and force the overtime.

Oakleaf scored first in the overtime with Chancelor Lee driving in for a layup and Jalisa Lee blocking a shot by Hope Rozier before a scramble of errant passes ended with Fleming Island getting two free throws from Aubrey Burke to tie the game at 45-45 with 3:01 left in the overtime.

Littles hit one free throw, Oden got a steal that fed Littles for a layup with Littles stealing and feeding Oden to put Oakleaf up 50-45 with 1:02 to go before Fleming Island battled back for the district win.

A jumper from Robinson and a steal and layup from Mariah Martin closed the gap to 50-49 with 32 seconds left.

From there, Robinson backed into the paint in front of Oden who got hit with a foul. With 5.7 seconds still on the clock, Robinson converted both free throws to put Fleming Island up 51-50.

Oakleaf had one chance to steal the game but an errant pass to Littles bounded out of bounds. Littles finished with five points, five steals, a blocked shot and two assists for Oakleaf coach Frank Jenkins.

On Saturday, Fleming Island (8-1, 2-0), despite 27 points from Robinson, lost their first game of the season to unbeaten Lake Howell (11-0), a Class 8A school, 65-58, at the Flagler Palm Coast Shootout at Flagler Palm Coast High School. Earlier in the week, Fleming Island narrowly defeated district 4-8A’s Bartram Trail 53-50 to maintain hold of the district top spot.

“We’re just struggling in the second half, we’re building up leads and we’re finding our way into a tight two or three-point game and it comes down to a last shot against Nease, now against Bartram Trail, it was another team that we did the same thing and let them back into the game,” said Fleming Island coach Joey Williams, after the Bartram Trail win.

Oakleaf, also on Saturday, shredded Wolfson 74-14 to up their record to 5-1, 0-1.