V-Lady Tigers get hard fought victory
Ft. Loramie more than just another team
By George Starks

VERSAILLES- When it comes to being battle tested, both Versailles and Ft. Loramie has proven over the years to have won those battles. More often than not, those battles were wars and they were against each other.

Tuesday, the two teams met and once again the game went right down to the final buzzer in what will go down as a classic battle. In a game that featured 11 lead changes and eight ties, not including ties that were achieved and broken at the foul line, Versailles got the final lead change in the fourth quarter.

When the final buzzer sounded, it was Versailles holding on to a 55-52 victory over the 2013 state D-IV Champions.

“This was a fun game tonight,” said Versailles coach Jackie Stonebreaker. “You couldn’t ask for two better crowds. With a lot of games being cancelled tonight, there were a lot of other teams here also. Marion Local, Miami East, Tri-Village were all here scouting. I could go down the list of teams I saw at this game. This was just a great game between two great schools.”

With just under five minutes left in the game, Versailles got its lead for the final time of the night. With the Tigers up at 44-43 and 5:43 remaining, Kelly Turner hit one of two from the foul line, getting things tied up for the eighth and final time of the night.

It wasn’t long after Turner had tied things up that senior Katie Heckman went to the line, dropping in two shots, giving Versailles a 46-44 advantage. With 1:55 remaining, the Tigers would trail again when Jessica Berger would connect from three point land giving the Redskins a 51-50 lead. Heckman would hit in the paint a few seconds later, giving Versailles its final lead of the night at 52-51.

For 32 minutes, it would be back and forth between the two teams.

After the first quarter, the Redskins would hold a 21-20 lead but the defenses would take over and at the break it was all even at 28-28. In the opening 16 minutes of play, there would be six ties and seven lead changes.

“I thought we played pretty good defense,” said Stonebreaker. “We gave up 52 points but those were some hard fought points. Twenty-one of them came in the first quarter.”

Heading into the final stanza, the Redskins would hold a 42-39 advantage.

“I’m just glad we came out with the lead at the end,” said Stonebreaker. “They have some great players and you never know who’s going to get hot. We saw two of their players get hot out there.”

In her first game since early in the season, Amanda Winner made a successful return for the Tigers. In a limited role, Winner contributed with six points off the bench and helped on the defensive end.

“Amanda stepped us for us tonight and she’s not played in a very long time,” Stonebreaker stated. “We kept track of ‘Hustle Plays’ out there. We had six and I think Amanda had five of them. So it’s little things that will win you the games.”

Now 13-2, the Tigers will get back into the conference tonight against Marion Local.