PARIS - Courtney Boehmer and her Paris District High School Panthers teammates expected a battle in their Brant County junior girls basketball quarter-final with the Brantford Collegiate Institute Colts.
Little did they know it would be as dramatic as it was Tuesday afternoon.
After watching a huge lead dissolve by halftime, the Panthers scratched back for a 34-30 win at home.
"What an amazing way to win," Boehmer said.
"We knew we didn't play our best game the last time we played them when they beat us. We wanted to come out and bring our 'A' game. Both teams are so close, which made it a fun game, but to win the way we did is awesome."
Paris jumped out to an 11-3 lead after one quarter, with everything going the Panthers' way.
"We really wanted this game pretty bad and to take the lead like we did was pretty exciting," said Boehmer, who finished the game with seven points.
But then the Colts marched back to give themselves a 17-15 lead at the half.
"We couldn't believe it," Boehmer said.
"We were jumping out of our seats. And the nerves started to happen because we all knew we didn't want to lose at all."
She said the Paris coaches tried to calm the players.
"On the bench the coach was telling us to stick to our zone and, when we got the ball back to look for Avery (Hamill) to score."
It was a plan that worked, as the two teams exchanged points in the third quarter, before Boehmer, Hamill and Suzanne Kelly led the fourth-quarter comeback.
With four minutes to play, Hamill hit a jumper from 10 feet out to give the Panthers a lead that was quickly extinguished. But the never-say-die Panthers kept coming, eventually pulling away, with Boehmer scoring five in the fourth, while Hamill got four.
"When we caught up again, we all got so excited," Boehmer said.
"We knew we needed to hold them. That last two minutes was so long. It was the longest two minutes I could ever remember."
And with the win, the Panthers have earned a date with the undefeated North Park Collegiate Trojans in the Brant semifinals Thursday. But, most important, they've earned a shot to get to the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AA qualifier against the third place 'AA' team in District 4.
For the Colts, it was a disappointing way to end the season.
"It was a fun game. We always have good games against Paris. But to be honest, we were really hoping to go on," Caitlin Demeyere said. "It's been a long season and I think we're a bit tired. It was a good game on both sides. It's just too bad we were the ones that lost."
In the other quarter-final, the Assumption College Lions beat the Pauline Johnson Thunderbirds 38-15. The Lions will now face St. John's College Thursday in the other semifinal.
Junior Quarterfinals
Paris 34, BCI 30
Paris: Avery Hamill 12, Courtney Boehmer 7, Suzanne Kelly 4, Sara Pfeiffer 4, Emily Lynch 2, Evelyna Press 2, Rachel Irvine 2.
BCI: Kiana Madia 11, Madison McBride 11, Katie Cummings 2, Caitlin Demeyere 2, Sonia Sabota 2, Amy Edward 2, Danielle Demeyere 2.
ACS 38, PJC 15
Scorers not available.
Semifinals - Thursday
Junior: ACS at SJC, 5:30 p.m.; Paris at NPC, 4 p.m.
Senior: NPC at ACS, 7 p.m.; BCI at SJC, 7 p.m.
Retrieved From: http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2012/10/30/jr-panthers-hold-on-to-advance-to-semifinals
