St. Pius Girls Win Region on Last-Second Shot

With a region championship on the line and time running out, Anne Lloyd Bean found the ball in her hands with a chance to break a 40-40 tie against Columbia. As soon as Bean released the potential game-winning shot, she—and her coach—knew it was good.

The junior point guard launched a three for the win against the defending Class AAA champs as time expired and almost seemed to turn around with arms outstretched in celebration before the ball swished through the hoop.

“(Emma Ucinski) found me wide open in the corner, and I just shot it,” Bean said. “Right when it left my hand, I knew that it was going in.”

Bean’s clutch shot gave the 43-40 win in Saturday night’s Region 5-AAA championship contest at Riverwood. Both teams entered the game with unblemished region records and as the top seeds from each sub-region, and St. Pius’ victory gives it a top seed in the state playoffs, which begin Friday.

But like several of the Lady Golden Lions’ recent games, things didn’t get off to a pretty start.

Down 12-1 in the first quarter after struggling against Columbia’s intense full-court pressure, St. Pius was out of sync and falling victim to turnovers and bad shot selection. 

“We told (our players) before the game, they’re going to make their run, they’re a great team,” St. Pius head coach Kyle Snipes said. “They’ll make a run at us, we just have to keep it within shouting distance and we’ll reel it back in like we always do.”

Before the first quarter was over, St. Pius had scored the last eight points on three pointers from Sydni Payne and Mackenzie Garrison and a bucket from Dylan Krause to cut it to 12-9. 

After the rough start, the Golden Lions would maintain a slim lead for much of the game. 

“We’ve been getting down, but we’ve been finding a way to win and our defense keeps us in it,” Bean said.

Pius had to withstand fine performances from Columbia’s Zuri Frost (16 points), Victoria Gonzales (9 points) and Miah Spencer (11 points). Spencer did all she could to bring the Lady Eagles back from a late deficit, hitting all three free throws after getting fouled on a three-point attempt, and nailing a contested jumper with 21.2 seconds remaining to tie the game at 40-40.

After the tying shot, Pius took its final timeout with 13.2 seconds left. According to Snipes, there was no set play on the final sequence that gave Bean the ball with the game on the line.

“I told them, we just need to attack, get to the basket, and we’ll beat them in overtime if we have to,” Snipes said. “But thank God we didn’t have to.”

Bean finished with 10 points on the night, including a crucial 3-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter. Ucinski contributed nine points with two treys, and Garrison played a huge role with nine points and several crucial rebounds and defensive plays.

Anna O’Donnell only scored two points on the night, but was a force in the post throughout the week and was named tourney MVP. The regular-season all-region team was also recognized, with O’Donnell and Ucinski receiving the honors. 

St. Pius will host the No. 4 seed from Region 7 on Friday; Columbia will meet the third seed from the same region.