Despite Senior Night loss, Braelyn Horn ending her hoops career as an example for her teammates

FREMONT – Playing the final home game of her basketball career, Braelyn Horn wasn’t about to allow her team to go down without a fight.

With a limitless supply of energy and barrel full of hustle with a whole lot of grit mixed in, the Lady Giants’ unsung off-the-bench defensive stalwart gave her the team the shot in the arm and kick in the pants it needed to claw itself back from a 19-point deficit and get within shouting distance, just eight points, by early in the fourth quarter.

But Senior Night was destined to end on a sour note and not even Horn’s otherworldly effort was enough to change it. The Lady Giants concluded their regular season Thursday night with a 53-41 loss to the Panthers.

“I felt like I gave them my all tonight. It’s sad, but it’s happy at the same time,” Horn said.

“It was definitely different,” she said of her last home game. “I was sitting on the bench, waiting for my name to be called out and I was sitting there like, ‘This is the last time. I have to give it my all. This is definitely going to be my last time on this court.’ I’m hopefully going to play with that same effort all softball season.”

Despite winning the turnover battle in every quarter, Ross couldn’t generate enough offense off of Whitmer’s miscues. Whitmer, on the other hand, took control of the game with a pair of prolonged scoring runs. The first came in the second quarter. With the game tied 10-10, Whitmer scored the next 11 points and took a 25-15 lead into halftime.

The Panthers then opened the third quarter on a 13-4 run to go ahead 38-19 just three minutes into the second half.

Despite the large deficit, the Lady Giants, led by the ever-persistent Horn, clawed back. Ross ended the third quarter outscoring the Panthers 9-2 over the final three minutes. Horn’s defensive tenacity led to a trio of Whitmer turnovers, sending Ross into transition. She went to the free throw line, making one of two shots, had a pair of steals and an assist on a 2-on-1 break, with Jazmin Bulger finishing the play. Then Horn, after taking a pass from Bulger at the top of the key, put the ball on the floor, charged ahead and drove hard to the basket, finishing a nice layin, sending the Lady Giant bench and full gym into a frenzy.

“It felt pretty good, I was like, ‘I’m taking this one,’” Horn said. “My girl was off balance and she’s a little bigger, a post player, so I thought I got to take this to my advantage and I made it and the team got hyped up and I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ I thought we might have had it.”

Ross continued the momentum into the fourth quarter where it scored the first four points of the period, cutting Whitmer’s lead down to 42-34, forcing a Panthers’ timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Whitmer drained a momentum-sapping 3-pointer, followed shortly thereafter by a baseline jumper, putting Ross’ deficit back to 13 and ending hopes of a comeback.

“That three was big,” Ross coach Juan Vela said. “You get that much momentum and we were hoping to get a stop, maybe hit a three ourselves and then now you’re (down) five. That three took some wind out of us.”

While Horn finished the night with four points, three steals, an assist and a pair of rebounds, her impact Thursday night, as has been the case all season, went far beyond the statistics.

“She is the type of player that, you talk about playing hard? She absolutely plays hard,” Vela said. “Athletically, she’s strong, she’s fast and she plays with that mindset that she’s going to get the ball and she made a lot of big plays for us. I was proud of her tonight.

“This is a senior that, coming into the season, wasn’t going to get a lot of paying time but, again, she ended up being a big part of this team.”

For her part, Horn knows she’s never going to be Ross’ leading scorer, but puts it upon herself to lead in other areas.

“I want to go out on the court and prove every time that I have something to give to them, that I’m not on the bench just to be on the bench,” Horn said. “I wanted to be that person this year to give it when they needed it and be on the bench supporting when they needed it.”

Like Horn, Alhia Simms used playing her final home game as extra motivation, aggressively attacking the basket to lead Ross with 12 points.

“You take it for granted until it’s actually your last time,” Simms said. “My goal was to make my last game in the Purple Pit memorable and I think I left a little mark here.”

Joining Horn and Simms in playing their final home games Thursday were Bulger, who scored 10 points, Bre Nason, Laura Szymanowski and Ashley Dodson.

Ross ends its regular season with a 13-8 overall record and a 6-8 mark in the TRAC.

The Lady Giants open their sectional tournament Saturday, Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. at Genoa High School against Springfield.

 

Whitmer 53, Fremont Ross 41

W| 10—15—17—11  53

FR| 8—9—15—11   41

WHITMER (53)

Hopings 2 1-2 6; Bonds 1 1-1 3; Thomas 2 1-2 5; Whitman 0 2-2 2; Blood 0 2-2 2; Brown 5 2-4 15; Hickey 5 5-5 17; Henkle 1 0-0 3. Totals, 16 14-18 53.

ROSS (41)

Bulger 5 0-2 10; O. Baptista 1 2-2 5; Gore 1 0-2 2; Horn 1 2-4 4; Simms 4 4-9 12; B. Baptista 1 2-2 4; Sabiers 1 0-0 2; Overmyer 1 0-0 2. Totals, 15 10-21 41.

3-pointers: WHS, 7 (Brown 3; Hickey 2; Hopings 1; Henkle 1). Ross 1 (O. Baptista).