Clemons comes through in the clutch for Spartan girls

Abby Clemons’ three-point play with five seconds remaining gave the Superior High School girls basketball team a 64-63 overtime win over Eau Claire Memorial Saturday afternoon in the SHS gym.

“I’m so happy for Abby … the basket and free throw were clutch,” said SHS coach Phil Roe.

With the Spartans trailing by two points, Hailey Kontny drove toward the basket and found Clemons, who made the basket and was fouled in the process.

After an Old Abe timeout, Clemons calmly sank the winning free throw.

ECM had one last desperation miss and the Spartans improved to 12-1 overall and 5-0 against sectional opponents.

“Hailey did a nice job of drawing the defense in and finding Abby,” Roe said. “It was no surprise to me that Abby made both shots; she has put in more time in the offseason then 99 percent of the athletes I have coached. She spent a lot of mornings in the fall waking up at 5:30 a.m. to shoot free throws when the school/gym opened at 6 a.m. before school, and she never missed an open gym.

“She was prepared for the moment and she shined. I am so proud of her.”

The Spartans were led on offense by Jessica Lindstrom’s 29 points. Kontny added 15 points, Alyssa Correll had eight and Clemons finished with seven.

“I was extremely proud of my team’s composure under some really tough circumstances,” Roe said. “My girls had to battle and fight for everything they got and we never stopped believing.

“Memorial had just won seven of its last eight games against some good teams, so for us to pull out the win was huge, especially after our first loss and not playing a game for the last eight days. We will continue to work hard, reflect on areas we can improve and get better each week.”

The Spartans, wbho defeated Duluth Marshall 76-32 Monday night, play at Duluth East at 5:45 p.m. Thursday and at Grand Rapids at 7:15 p.m. Friday.

E.C. Memorial 18-19-12-8-6—63

Superior 22-16-9-10-7—64

ECM—Allie Biermeier 7, Jenna Sturz 5, Lauren Novak 15, McKenna Gruber 21, Tina McCann 14, Bridget Hujik 1. Totals 25 8-15 63.

3-point goals — Biermeier, Novak 3, McCann.

SHS—Abby Clemons 7, Alison Wainionpaa 2, Rachel Fregin 3, Jessica Lindstrom 29, Alyssa Correll 8, Hailey Kontny 15. Totals 21 14-21 64.

3-point goals — None.

Superior — Jessica Lindstrom 21, Alison Wainionpaaa 12, Hailey Kontny 12, Alyssa Correll 7, Rachal Fregin 5, Shannon Johnstad 4, Taylor Nelson 4, Missy Toland 3, Natalie Kintop 3, Tailor Schuster 3, Abby Clemons 2. Totals 33 6-16 76.

3-point goals — Fregin, Kintop, Correll, Schuster.

Duluth Marshall — Rachel DeWitte 17, Molly Matthews 5, Maddie Eyer 3, Mary Baumgartner 2, Abby Bushey 2, Ann Kleinschmidt 2, Meghan Matthews 1. Totals 10 7-13 32.

3-point goals — DeWitte 5.

Tags: sports, preps, basketball, superior, spartans