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By Jed Blackwell

 

Polk County’s last, best shot to claw back into Friday’s playoff game against Avery came on a 3-point attempt by Bailey Staton late in the third quarter.

She’d just hit a triple, the Wolverines got a defensive stop, and as Staton lined up another from long-distance, she was fouled. In two trips down the floor, Polk County had a chance to cut Avery’s lead from 11 to four.

The ball spun out. Staton and Polk County coach Brandy Alm almost simultaneously expressed their frustrations, with Alm giving a “just missed it” clap and Staton doing nearly the same.

It was that kind of night. With good shots often not falling and in the face of a withering full-court pressure defense from Avery, Polk County fell 67-58 to the Vikings, ending the season at 23-2, tied for the most wins in school history.

“It wasn’t our night,” Alm said. “It wasn’t meant for us to win tonight. A lot of little things didn’t go our way.”

Polk County trailed early, but rallied to lead 20-16 early in the second quarter on Kierra Littlejohn’s basket. From that point, the end of the half was wild, with two ties and five lead changes. Littlejohn and fellow senior post Kylie Lewis had the final say in the half, each scoring a bucket in the final minute to tie it at 32 at the break. 

Slowly, though, Avery began to pull away. The Vikings used a 14-2 run to start the third, keyed by a pair of deep 3-pointers, a couple of transition buckets, and that furious defense. Lewis, Mia Bradley, and Staton helped the Wolverines chip away, and back-to-back scores by Lewis and Staton early in the fourth cut the lead to 51-47.

However, Avery seemed to have an answer at every crucial juncture, usually in the form of a big play from Caroline Hollifield, who scored 21 points to lead Avery, and who was solid at the free throw line down the stretch when the Wolverines were forced to foul, going 9-for-11 from the stripe in the fourth quarter alone.

Staton had a big night for the Wolverines, finishing with 31 points, and Lewis added 12. Despite those numbers, Alm said dealing with Avery’s pressure made it hard for the Wolverines to find an offensive flow.

“We just didn’t handle the ball,” Alm said. “We didn’t handle the pressure well. Our offense, sometimes teams can’t press us because of the way we handle the ball, and we didn’t do that tonight. We couldn’t get our offense set up because we couldn’t get the ball down the court. We didn’t execute. We were trying to play four guards, and that’s not us.

“The posts are a main part of our offense, and we couldn’t do that tonight. We tried to play four guards, and offensively we just couldn’t get it going. And our shots weren’t falling, and they played great defense and had a lot of offensive rebounds. We got in a little foul trouble. We just didn’t execute.”

With the game out of reach, seniors Bradley, Littlejohn and Lewis got a curtain call as Alm subbed for them and allowed them to leave the game to a round of cheers and a big embrace from their coach.

In the back hallway leading to the Wolverines’ locker room, the embrace was a little different. Gunnar Alm, Polk County’s do-everything athlete, yelled for his mom’s attention and wrapped her up.

“I’m so proud of you,” he told her.

She’s proud of her team.

“I told them to walk out of the locker room with their heads held high,” she said. “I didn’t want it to end, and honestly I didn’t think it was going to. I didn’t think about what I was going to say to them after. We broke so many records. This is a very special group. I absolutely adore them. I love them.

“I’m going to miss our seniors, and those are big shoes to fill. But we have some incredible underclassmen who are willing to work hard. We’re going to work hard this summer and come back next season.”