CHICO – In perhaps the most exciting game of the section championships held at Chico State on Saturday, The Happy Camp Lady Indians fell to the Greenville Indians 53-47, in overtime.

Nikki Crocker came out firing for Happy Camp and the Lady Indians took a quick 4-0 lead. It took Greenville a full two minutes to get on the board, but once they broke the ice Greenville went on a 10-2 run to end the first quarter up 10-6.

The Lady Indians opened the scoring again in the second quarter, when Carly Hammon notched a bucket on a breakaway to make it 10-8. After a Greenville hoop, Crocker dialed long distance to bring Happy Camp within one, at 12-11.

Greenville went up by six, before Cassidy Hammon nailed a 3-ball to cut the deficit in half at 17-14. Greenville went up by six again, 22-16, with about 2:00 left in the half. A Kelsea McLeran put back made it 22-18. Then, with the Lady Indians trailing 25-18, Carly Hammon hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go in the half. Crocker followed with a 3-ball of her own at the eight-second mark, and Happy Camp trailed by a single point, 25-24, at the intermission.

Happy Camp recaptured the lead 30 seconds into the second half when Ashley Spence scored to make it 26-25. Greenville went back in the lead with a couple of baskets and a freebie at 30-26. Three straight Cassidy Hammon assists later, two for McLeran buckets and one to Conrad, Happy Camp jumped back on top 32-30.

However, Greenville scored the next five points and led 35-32 going into the final frame.

Greenville built their lead to seven points, 40-33, with less than six minutes remaining in the contest, before Ashley Goodwin hit a pair of buckets to bring the lead down to three, at 40-37. Trailing 44-40 with 1:41 left, Cassidy Hammon hit a pair from the stripe to make it 44-42. Another Hammon freebie at 1:22 brought Happy Camp to within one point, 44-43.

With under a minute to play, Conrad came up with a big rebound and put back to give Happy Camp the lead 45-44. Greenville then tied it 45-45 on a free throw. The Lady Indians had a chance to win the game in the final seconds, on a Conrad lay up. She missed the shot, but got her own rebound. Conrad missed again and got another rebound. On her next put back attempt, a Greenville player gave Conrad a two-hand push in the back and the shot went awry. All three of the stripes failed to call the foul, and the game went into overtime.

Except for a bucket by Conrad, overtime belonged to Greenville, and they went on to win the NSCIF D-VI championship 53-47.

“We played a team that played well and we played sub par. We missed way too many easy shots. I mean point-blank stuff. We should have put the game away in regulation, and when you don’t, you leave yourself open for what happened,” said Happy Camp coach John Kufner.”

Kufner also complemented Greenville on their excellent free throw shooting and their resiliency. But, for the Happy Camp coach the bottom line was that his team had an excessive amount of turnovers (28) and missed easy shots.

“We had the lay up that would have sealed it. We had another stick back that would have sealed it. A lot, a lot of contact on a couple of those, but they (the officials) are not going to make a call like that in a tight game like that. You have to finish. So, that’s on us. We should never have let it get to overtime. We had way too many turnovers. We don’t normally turn the ball over like we did” said Kufner. “We were a little passive. I think the girls were caught up in the moment a little too much. Maybe, I didn’t do a good enough job of getting them ready for the moment.”

What Kufner and his team did do this season was to win the Evergreen League at 10-0 (15-6) , and finish as runner-up in the section—both significant accomplishments.

Nikki Crocker led Happy Camp in scoring with 10 points, including two 3-pointers. Aja Conrad was in double figures for rebounding for the third straight playoff game with 13, and had 9 points. Conrad averaged over 18 rebounds and nearly 12 points per game for the playoffs. Cassidy Hammon had 8 points and 6 assists, and Kelsea McLeran grabbed 7 boards.

Greenville was led by Veronica Garcia with 16 points. Chantale Mellott had 15, and Becca Rogers added 10 points.