Ferndale Girls Fall in Wild Finish at Districts 58-56 to Lincoln

WARREN – The Ferndale girls varsity basketball team have plenty of time to think about the final 30 seconds of Wednesday night’s 58-56 loss to Lincoln in the District semifinals at Warren Fitzgerald High School.

A disastrous stretch in the game’s final minute eliminated the Eagles from the playoffs and sent them into the offseason in shock.

It started when Ariel Walker made one of two free throws to give Ferndale a 56-55 lead with 35.5 seconds left. Lincoln turned the ball over at midcourt with 27.2 remaining in the fourth and the Eagles looked poised to head to their Class A District Final.

Then things fell apart for Ferndale; and they fell apart quickly.

On the inbounds play Taryn Stephens turned the ball over to Lincoln’s leading scorer Brittany Streetman. Streetman was near the basket and turned around for a wide open layup. Stephens then ran over and pushed the Lincoln guard in the back.

Streetman went tumbling out of bounds, she missed the layup and landed hard on the floor. The referees immediately called an intentional foul on Ferndale’s freshman guard. In addition to two free throws, Lincoln was awarded possession of the ball.

The junior made the first and missed the second free throw after spending about five minutes recovering on the ground. The free throw made the game 56-56 with 24.1 seconds left. 

Lincoln didn’t take advantage of the extra possession when it turned the ball over on the inbounds pass.  

The Eagles pushed the ball up and after a series of passes found Shinia Malloy under the basket. The whistle blew as Malloy’s shot bounced in. Ferndale fans in attendance groaned as they realized their coach used a timeout with 16.9 seconds left before Malloy’s shot went up.

“I thought we could set up one play,” Ellis said. “It looked like we were out of control.”

Kelsey Ginther, Lincoln’s starting point guard, injured her leg on the play. She held her knee, screaming, as trainers ran out onto the court. The trainer helped her off the court after a lengthy break and she didn’t return.

With Ginther out, Lincoln’s lone starter in the game was Streetman. Three other Abes starters fouled out earlier in the quarter.

When the game resumed Ferndale never ran the play Ellis set up in the timeout. Walker tried to get the inbound pass to Stephens, but a Lincoln defender tipped it away. Janecia Jenkins tried to recover the ball before it went out of bounds, only to grab it with her foot on the out of bounds line. Lincoln returned the favor by throwing its inbound away.

Ellis immediately called another timeout with only 8.2 seconds left in the game.  That drew a technical foul. Ferndale didn’t have a timeout left to call and the penalty was two free throws for Lincoln.

“The scorer’s table told me I had one,” Ellis said. “That’s the reason I called a timeout, I wouldn’t of called one otherwise.” 

When Ginther was on the ground, Ellis said the scorer’s table told him he had one timeout remaining and that Lincoln was the team with none remaining. Streetman went to the line again and made one of the two free throws to give Lincoln a 57-56 lead with 7.2 seconds left.

Ferndale retained possession of the ball, but when Walker inbounded the ball to Micaela Ellis, a Lincoln player knocked her over grabbing at the ball. The whistle blew and the referee called a jump ball. 

The no-call on the contact sent Ferndale fans into a frenzy. Ellis slammed her hands on the floor as she sat on the ground shocked. The Ferndale coach walked over to the referees to ask about the call and he was called for a second technical foul.

“I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, I didn’t come on the floor, just one of these gestures like what happen,” Ellis said.

No explanation was given and Ellis went back to his bench shaking his head. He watched silently as Streetman made one of two free throws to push Lincoln’s lead to 58-56. 

“I just walked down the floor and I said the last play they grabbed her (Micaela) and I just told him that was a foul,” Ellis said. “They gave me a technical foul for no reason, earlier in the game they let the girl stomp all over the floor and didn’t give her a technical.”

All Lincoln needed to do was inbound the ball cleanly and it was Ferndale’s pressure defense that again forced another turnover. With five seconds left Micaela Ellis stole the ball and had time to put up two off balanced shots. She missed the first grabbed the rebound, only to miss again right in front of the basket. 

On both shots she drew heavy contact from Lincoln defenders, but time expired and no fouls were called. 

“We don’t get a call on the wrap around and she gets the rebound,” Ellis said. “She had her arm grabbed and knocked down on that, where was the call on that?”

 Many of the Eagles girls were in tears as they walked back to the bench.

“I think they (the referees) took the game from us,” Walker said. “I think we could’ve really won.”

Walker said the loss would be fuel for the group next season. Almost the entire team will be back next year and hungry for success.

“We will try harder,” Walker said. “We want to get back and do everything we can to win districts.”

Notes – Jenkins was Ferndale’s leading scorer with 18 points and Ariel Walker had 13 points. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles hit 11 of their 14 free throws and that almost was enough to get them into the District finals. Streetman finished with a game high 30 points for Lincoln.