Panther road trip: Linton’s late free throws send Riverside to Murfreesboro

DYER – Riverside High girls’ basketball coach Nicole Courtney wasn’t born in 1973.

Neither were a lot of the Lady Panthers’ parents.

So it was an opportunity for a big celebration Monday night when the Lady Panthers won at Gibson County 43-38 in their Class A sectional game.

It’s the first time since 1973 Riverside’s girls’ basketball team has made it to state.

Courtney said her team surpassed its main preseason goal with the victory as well.

“Of course we wanted to win and get to the next level once we got here, but before the season the main thing was we wanted to get to sectional,” Courtney said. “These seniors we have this year have put in a lot of work over the years and come up short of this round, and this is where we wanted to get.

“We knew we had a shot if we finished top two in the district, and we did that.”

Bree Linton was the player who put Riverside over the hump to Murfreesboro.

After Gibson County went up 38-37 with 1:21 remaining in regulation, Diedre McElrath hit a shot to with 1:03 remaining to put the Lady Panthers back up.

After Gibson County failed to respond with points, Linton was fouled and hit both free throws to extend Riverside’s lead with 21 seconds remaining.

“I knew I just had to hit them,” Linton said. “We needed the points in that situation, and I had to hit them.”

Linton then anticipated Gibson County’s next move and stayed on the Lady Pioneers’ end of the court ready for them to roll the ball in-bounds to save some time as the clock wouldn’t start until someone touched it.

“I wanted to stand there so they couldn’t roll it in,” Linton said.

Linton got the ball and was immediately fouled. She capitalized on the situation and made two more free throws for a five-point lead with a few seconds remaining to seal the win and the trip to Murfreesboro.

“Give Riverside credit because we couldn’t score on back-to-back possessions consistently, and their defense had a lot to do with that,” said Gibson County coach Mitch Wilkins, whose team finishes with a record of 32-4 after winning the District 14-A and Region 7-A championships. “It was a great game that we came up on the short end of.”

Both teams had shooting troubles early as Riverside led 4-2 at the end of the first quarter. Both coaches said it was probably a combination of nerves and the opposing defense. Neither team led by more than five points, but Riverside did lead most of the game while the Lady Pioneers dealt with foul trouble as Erin Lannom sat a good portion of the second and third quarters.

“It affected us, but that’s part of the game,” Wilkins said. “You could tell Riverside had played some good teams and weren’t going to be intimidated by anything we might’ve done. They played a good game, and we did too.

“They just came out on the winning end.”

Riverside (23-9) will open the Class A state tournament against Oliver Springs Thursday at 9:30 a.m.

“I’m proud of these girls how they played tonight even when Gibson County took the lead there in the fourth quarter,” Courtney said. “We’ve lost a couple recently where we’ve given up leads late.

“I didn’t see any of our players panicking out there, but I did see some uncertainty. But they played through it and didn’t let mistakes affect them on the next play.”

Linton led Riverside with 18 points, and Kendall Walker had 11.

Lannom led Gibson County with 12 points, while Allie Smithson finished with 11.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751