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Julius makes ESPN No. 6

By Randy Lefko
Posted 12/19/18

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Keystone Heights High senior point guard Haley Julius landed a free throws two years ago that propelled the Lady Indians to an overtime district title and a region playoff …

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Julius makes ESPN No. 6


Posted

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Keystone Heights High senior point guard Haley Julius landed a free throw two years ago that propelled the Lady Indians to an overtime district title and a region playoff berth, so she’s used to big shots in big games.

That was against Bradford County High School.

“There was bit of commotion going on in the stands after that one and she just walked to the free throw line all calm and cool and just waited to sink the winning free throws,” said Keystone Heights coach Jessica Sykes-Carter, herself a big-play point guard for the Lady Indians state runs in the 1990s. “With the Fort White shot, she was kind of joking around that she should just chuck it because there was like 0.4 seconds left on the clock and we were down by four points.”

Fast forward to Thurs., Dec. 13, 2018 and a tight district contest at Fort White High School and the Lady Indians down 43-39 with time running out for Sykes-Carter.

“We had to foul at the time and hoped their girl would miss them, but she didn’t so the shot was never going to be a buzzer beater,” said Sykes-Carter. “Prior to the shot, Haley was actually joking with the Indians bench about just chucking the ball and wouldn’t it be cool if it went in.”

Sykes-Carter called for a half court final shot attempt by Julius, her best shooter with a 15.6 points per game average, with the rest of the team clearing the area for the best shot for Julius to catch the incoming ball, pivot and toss it nearly 70 feet with the hopes of a basket.

BOOM!

“I just turned and threw it as hard as I could,” said Julius. “I didn’t even see it go in because the stands emptied out on to the court.”

Hitting one of her team and area leading 27 three pointers in a thriller against Fort White seemed appropriate for Julius despite the 43-43 loss.

“Our people didn’t seem to care that we lost,” said Julius. “The shot was what they were getting crazy on.”

From there, Sykes-Carter took her usual game film reel from the half court area and put in on IHUDL, a nationwide video site for prospective athlete to post their highlights of games.

“The video got like 6,000 views real fast,” said Sykes-Carter. “Then a couple of days later, I get a call to turn the TV on because the video was on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.”

The thrilling ending was captured on film by a student of Sykes-Carter in the stands.

“If you watch the video, it’s all shaky because of the people in the stands jumping around after the shot,” said Sykes-Carter. “I like it because I can now say I coached an athlete that made the ESPN Top 10 Plays show.”

Keystone Heights (8-5, 3-1) still sits atop the district 4-5A standings with Bradford County second (2-7, 2-2), Interlachen (6-3, 2-2) and Fort White (4-4, 2-2) all giving chase.