Van Buren County girls basketball coach Amy Russell proclaimed just minutes before Monday’s Region 3-A tournament semifinal against Sale Creek that her Lady Eagles were a Cinderella story.
Well, they’re still living a fairytale dream. And eighth-grader Lakelyn Bouldin is wearing the glass slipper.
Don’t pinch them. Please.
Bouldin, who finished her middle school season on Saturday, showed the grit and determination of a grizzled senior by scoring a game-high 27 points and leading the Lady Eagles to a 50-44 overtime victory over Sale Creek at Arts & Sciences.
“She’s smooth,” Sale Creek coach Debbie Hill said, showing total respect for the youngster.
The eye-popping performance by Bouldin pushed the Lady Eagles (13-16) into Wednesday’s championship game against Whitwell’s Lady Tigers (26-6), who knocked off rival Marion County, 48-39, in Monday’s first game that drew an almost packed house.
The title game starts at 7 p.m.
Bouldin, who tossed in 24 points in Friday’s 57-38 victory over Arts & Sciences in the quarterfinals, scored 25 points in the second half and overtime period against the Lady Panthers.
The blonde-haired Bouldin, Van Buren’s answer to Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks, consistently drove the lane for hotly-contested layups.
She scored six of Van Buren’s eight third-quarter points.
In the fourth period when Van Buren erased a seven-point deficit, Bouldin closed an 11-0 run in a 92-second explosion with six straight points.
Is penetrating the lane the strength of her game?
“It depends on what kind of night it is,” she said. “This was definitely a driving kind of game.”
Bouldin, who turned 14 on Feb. 17, scored Van Buren’s final 10 points in the fourth quarter, hitting a driving layup with 52.3 seconds left to give the Lady Eagles a 41-40 lead.
“I’m not going to say much about her,” Russell said. “This is only her second game.”
Bouldin’s game speaks volumes.
Sale Creek’s Megan Storey’s free throw with 42.5 seconds left tied the game, setting up the overtime showdown.
Even in the extra four-minute period, Bouldin remained in total control.
She scored six points as Van Buren outscored the Lay Panthers, 9-0, to put the game away.
“I’ve been watching her for quite awhile and she’s met every expectation that I had of her,” Russell said. “She walks into the gym and she sees nothing but the basketball and the goal. That’s her mentality. She wants to win and she’s a winner on and off the court.”
Russell probably wanted to promote Bouldin to the varsity team earlier but waited patiently while the middle school team finished its season.
“They had two state tournaments and I was just waiting for my opportunity to have her,” Russell said. “She had to finish her middle school year. They finished Saturday and she was with us on Monday.”
The unassuming Bouldin, who wound up scoring 14 of Van Buren’s final 26 points, walked out of the Lady Eagles’ dressing room and into a swarm of adoring fans.
A lot has happened since the conversation with Russell a few days ago that prompted Bouldin’s call-up to the varsity squad.
Was she expecting the good news?
“Not really,” she said. “I didn’t pay any attention to high school ball while I was playing middle school.”
Now, she’s the talk of the region tournament and folks will probably flock to the Arts & Sciences gym on Wednesday to see the little package of dynamite perform.
“It’s amazing,” Bouldin said of her two-game varsity career – she’s scored 51 of Van Buren’s 107 points, or 47.7 percent of the team’s offensive production.
Folks at Van Buren surely saw this coming.
Bouldin was a wheeler-dealing offense force with the middle school team.
“My highest game was 28, 32 points,” she said. “Something like that.”
Van Buren trailed 7-0 to start the game, was down 21-14 at halftime and on the short end of a 29-21 third-quarter score.
Then, all heck broke loose as Van Buren scored 20 points in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 41.
The Lady Panthers (24-5) took a 33-26 lead on Krissy Hodge’s bucket with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
About two minutes later, Van Buren had a 37-33 advantage.
Goals by Erin Hill and Hodge pushed Sale Creek into a 38-37 lead.
Bouldin’s driving layup between three Lady Panthers defenders gave the lead back to the Lady Eagles, 39-38, with 1:48 left.
Nineteen seconds later on the other end, Hodge dropped in a layup and Sale Creek had a 40-39 lead.
It was all Van Buren in the overtime.
“They dictated play and we let them,” Hill said. “We missed some big shots and had some turnovers that killed us. They took us out of our game.”
The Sale Creek coach wasn’t completely taken aback by Bouldin’s effort.
“We hadn’t seen her, just heard about her,” Hill said. “She has good basketball skills. And for an eighth-grader, she’s cool under pressure.”
Cool Hand Lakelyn.
Ashley Butcher scored 10 points for Van Buren.
Hodge paced Sale Creek with 14 points. Erin Hill scored 12 and Storey 10.
“We had a great season, with lots of good effort,” Hill said. “We only have one senior, so we’re still hoping for good things to come.”
Earlier, Whitwell got 16 points from Halle Ware and 12 by Haley Atherton to reach the title game with its third win against Marion County (17-15).
The Lady Tigers built a 38-26 third-quarter lead and stretched it to 44-32 on Paige Carter’s 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:26 left.
Marion County scored seven straight points – four by Haley St. Clair, who finished with a team-high 14 – and trailed by 44-39 with 34.9 seconds on the clock.
Ware sealed the win with four straight free throws in the final 18.9 seconds.
“We knew coming in that rebounding would be a key for us,” Whitwell coach Eric Zensen said as he watched the Sale Creek-Van Buren game. “We’ve struggled inside against them in the past. Regardless of which team we play in the championship game, it will be tough for us. Both of those teams played us tough and hard and we’ll have to be prepared mentally.”
BOXSCORES
Region 3-A Semifinals
Van Buren 10 4 7 20 9 – 50
Sale Creek 12 9 8 12 3 – 44
Van Buren (50) – Ashley Butcher 10, Tiffany Grisson 2, Shelene Hitchcock 5, Anna Thornton 2, Kasi Shockley 1, Savanna Cochran, Lacy Hankins 1, Shelby Christian 2, Lakelyn Bolden 27.
Sale Creek (44) – Brooke Welch 2, Megan Storey 10, Erin Hill 12, Alexis Wolff 3, Katie Newsome, Chelsi Roark 2, Krissy Hodge 14, Mikayla Crowder 1.
3-Point goals: Van Buren 3 (Butcher 2, Hitchcock 1); Sale Creek 1 (Wolff 1).
Marion County 11 10 5 13 – 39
Whitwell 14 16 8 10 – 48
Marion County (39) – Lauren Brown 2, Autumn Towery 11, Kayla Brown 7, Micayla Brooks 2, Kay Kay Simpson 3, Haley St. Clair 14.
Whitwell (48) – Sarah Green 1, Braylie Condra 6, Alyssa Coppinger, Allie Caldwell, Brooke Bennington, Haley Atherton 12, Halle Ware 16, Paige Carter 8, Kelsey Kilgore 5, Tanika Gholston, Lenae Joslyn.
3-Point goals: Marion County 0; Whitwell 5 (Condra 2, Ware 1, Carter 1, Kilgore 1).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at fleminglrry@aol.com)