With their season on the line, the Gruver Lady Hounds found a way behind an unlikely hero in Marlee Maupin, who made a buzzer-beating basket as time expired to give Gruver an improbable 47-45 victory over Whiteface in a thrilling UIL Class 2A Division II regional semifinal at the Joe Lombard Gymnasium in Canyon on Monday night.
To set the scene in a game that had so many momentum swings, especially in the closing seconds of regulation and overtime, Whiteface had taken a 45-44 lead on a Kambry Sanders jumper with 13.4 seconds to play in the extra frame.
With one final chance, the Lady Hounds ran a perfect pick and roll, with guard Payton Merkel delivering a pass to the sophomore Maupin. Maupin was fouled, and went to the line for two shots with five seconds remaining. Maupin, the younger sister of Texas Tech standout, and Lady Hound great, Bailey Maupin, banked the first free-throw off the glass, tying the contest 45-45. Maupin missed the second free-throw, as the ball went out of bounds giving the Lady Antelopes the ball under Gruver’s basket.
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On the ensuing inbounds play, Gruver’s Paisely Quirk intercepted the Whiteface inbounds pass near half court, took a dribble and found Maupin underneath the basket, and Maupin made the layup as time expired to give Gruver the unbelievable victory.
“I was so nervous at the free-throw line, but I was able to make one,” Maupin said. “Then, the only thing going through my head on the steal, and when the ball was passed to me, Is, make the layup. It was an amazing feeling.”
Gruver head coach Trent Lankford echoed Maupin’s commment.
“At the end we told them to not allow anything deep and play to deny the ball,” Lankford said. “Our freshman (Paisely Quirk) got a big steal, and made a great pass to Maupin who was able to make the shot. What a game. What an ending. I’m so proud of these girls.”
Maupin finished with five points, but those five points all came at the most critical of times.
Counting the three in overtime, Maupin was able to send this game to OT at the end of regulation. With Gruver trailing 39-37, Maupin made a layup off an inbounds play with 3.5 seconds left and was fouled. Maupin missed the game-winning free-throw at the point, but was able to redeem herself in the free period.
“Marley is a very smart player,” Lankford said. “She was hampered with foul trouble throughout the game. With three minutes left we brought her back in because she is scrappy. She’s not the biggest scorer, or rebounder but she effects winning. We put Marlee on the ball on their inbounds, to make them throw over her. She made them adjust, and was then in the right spot for the winning bucket. Look at the inbounds play for us in regulation. Marlee was smart enough to run around a screen to make a play and get fouled. That’s the kind of impact she has.”
Gruver (29-5) is headed to the Region I-2A Division II championship game for the first time in three years, and is now awaiting Tuesday’s New Home-Sterling City winner.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this team,” Lankford said. “We are so young. We play three freshmen and two sophomores. Marlee is a sophomore, (Paisely) Quirk, who made the big steal is a freshman. This is a young team that continues to fight and battle. They are resilient and step up at the right times.”
Gruver took the momentum early behind a key 9-0 run to close out the first half. Down 16-15 with 2:45 to the break, freshman sensation, Payton Merkel, knocked down back-to-back, 3-pointers, and then Quirk hit her lone 3-pointer of the game, sending Gruver to the locker room up 24-16 at the half.
Merkel was stellar in that first half, scoring 17 of her game-high 23 points in the first two stanzas.
In the second half, the Lady Antelopes (33-4) began to chip away, taking over the momentum. Whiteface cut the deficit at 30-29 by the end of the third and took its first lead since the second quarter at the 5:53 mark of the fourth when Lainey Sanders drilled a deep 3-pointer from the left wing, putting the Lady Antelopes on top 33-32.
Gruver had regained the lead and seemed to be in control up 37-34 with just under two minutes to play. That was until a shift happened once more when Whiteface leader Emily Blankenship banked in a 3-pointer off the glass from the left side, tying the game, 37-37, with 1:49 left.
That’s how this game went the entire way, before Maupin’s heroics down the stretch at the end of regulation and overtime.
“I knew it would be a lower scoring game,” Lankford said. “There were a lot of momentum swings to this game. We are so young, and we knew we had to find a way. Whiteface did a great job of taking away Payton (Merkel), so we had to have others step up. We weren’t great defensively, but we were when we had to at the end.”
Quirk added seven points for Gruver. Despite the loss, Blankenship led the Lady Antelope with 14 points.
