When the Burlington 8th Grade girls stepped onto the court to face the Snohomish Panthers this morning, it appeared that we’d have a good, even match. In the first several minutes, scoring was low as both teams played strong defense. After five minutes of play, the score was even at 5-5.
As the game progressed, though, Snohomish took a narrow lead and held it for the rest of the half. A shot from the paint by #32 made it 7-5, and a layup by #31 made it 9-5. At the midpoint of the 22 minute period, the gap had shrunk to two points again, 9-7. Going into halftime, the differential was still only three points: 16-13.
During the second half, the battle remained fierce, and ten minutes into the period the Tigers had tied up the game once again, at 18-18. From there, though, Snohomish began to build a lead, and with 6:40 left in the game, the Panthers held a nine point lead at 27-18.
But then it was Burlington’s turn for a run, and over the next two and a half minutes, they hit two consecutive three pointers and a solid 10-footer to close the gap to a single point again, 27-26. Snohomish got on the board again to make it 29-26, but the Tiger #22’s jump shot made it 29-28.
And then a referee decided to take over the game, awarding Burlington two points (on no free-throws) for a technical foul called against the Snohomish coach. It was egregious not only because of the fact that it awarded the other team the lead with 1:30 left in the game, but because the coach had done nothing to deserve it: no yelling, no cursing, no interfering with the game. The Tigers took the lead, 29-30.
With 33 seconds on the clock, the Panther’s #11 dropped in a shot from under the basket to regain the lead for her team, but a foul was called only two seconds later, and a free-throw by the Tiger’s #10 tied the game at 31-31.
And then questionable fouls were called on both teams on each of their next possessions. Both teams made their shots, making it 33-33. With six seconds left, the Panthers’ #31 drove to the basket for a layup and was clearly fouled, but this time it was inexplicably ignored.
![](https://www.gorephoto.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/DSC3729-880x618.jpg)
The ball was rebounded by Burlington, and as the ball handler muscled past her defender, the buzzer sounded to end the game… but the referee had blown a whistle first: another foul against Snohomish.
With admirable poise in a very tense situation, Burlington’s shooter sunk her second free-throw and won the game. Final Score: 34-33, Tigers.
Strong defensive play: no foul was called here.
The whistle-happy refs somehow missed this one in the closing seconds of the game.