Down by seven points at halftime, Seabury Academy girls basketball coach Nick Taylor challenged his squad to step up in its Class 1A regional. It responded.
Seabury (6-12) held Burlingame to only eight points in the second half, earning a 33-28 come-from-behind victory Monday at Seabury that propels the Seahawks into another must-win game Friday against top-seeded White City (13-4).
"We came out of the locker room (for the second half) and just started to turn things around," Taylor said. "We started rebounding, and we took care of the ball, and once we did both of those things ... we came back."
Seabury Academy's Regan Sisson, right, goes for a loose ball with Burlingame's Gretchen Vandevord. The Seahawks won, 33-28, Monday at Seabury.
Determined to play another high school game, senior Lindsey Ahlen fueled the Seabury comeback. Just moments into the third quarter, she hit a baseline jumper, then stole a Burlingame pass and found Molly Thurman, whose layup cut Seabury's deficit to three.
"Lindsey got it going," Taylor said. "And when Molly gets going inside, there aren't going to be many girls that can stop her. Our defense was what got us going. We really turned it up in the second half."
Thurman opened the fourth quarter with a jumper and two free throws that put Seabury ahead, 28-26. After a Laura Hoffmann free throw, Ahlen banked in a jumper to put Seabury up, 31-26, with 2:03 to play. The teams traded baskets in the final minute.
Seabury's, Blake Phillips, drives the lane aganist Burlilngame's, Zach Dodson, as the Seabury boys fell to Burlingame in Monday's 1-A Regional game at Seabury.
"It's motivating," Ahlen said of the victory. "It makes us want to go to state."
Burlingame boys 56, Seabury 45
He said the finality wouldn't hit him until today, but when Seabury senior Adam Davis hugged his coaches and athletic director, a tear ran down his face. His high school basketball career was finished.
Davis did all he could to extend his season by pouring in 30 points, but the rest of his team combined to score 15.
"It was a quiet 30," Davis said. "I would have much rather had no points and gotten the win than get 30 points and have a 10-point loss. That's just the way it goes, I guess."
Seabury trailed by as many as 14, but cut the lead to 49-45 with 2:33 to play. Seabury didn't score the rest of the game, however, as Burlingame scored the final seven points.
"It was a roller coaster, it really was," coach Marcus Heckman said of the season.
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