The Martin girls’ basketball team outscored Watervliet 21-16 in the fourth quarter to force overtime and pulled out a 57-55 come-from-behind triumph.
The Lady Clippers trailed 34-29 heading into the final eight minutes and scored 21 points.
Watervliet, with a 50-47 lead in-bounded the ball to go the length of the floor, but Martin full court pressed and Cirsten Coburn got a steal and kicked it out to Gracie Shettler for a three to tie the ballgame with 12 seconds left.
Coach Ben Schipper said Shettler went four-for-four from the free throw line in the extra session, freshman Makala Goddard hit a three and the Lady Clippers’ defense came up with stops. Host Watervliet came into the encounter sporting an 11-1 overall record.
“I was very proud of our girls tonight,” Schipper said. “Huge milestone for us to pull out a tough win against a very good Watervliet team. Our younger girls grew up a lot tonight.
“Natalie Yowler played what I thought was her best game of the year scoring 5 points and coming up with several good rebounds.”
Bri Warner scored 13 points and battled Watervliet ace Samantha Dietz all night long “making every one of her 19 points tough to get.”
Shettler had a remarkable evening. leading led all scorers with 23, hitting two threes, scoring 13 points in the fourth period and was perfect from the FT line in five tries. Goddard hit three threes down the stretch to finish with nine points.
The victory lifted Martin’s overall season record to 7-5. Watervliet now is 11-2.
