By: Michael Shipma

The Goshen High School girl’s basketball team bounced back from a tough loss the night before to earn a nail-biting, 63-62 road victory over Providence Christian on Friday, Dec. 4.

A last-second bucket from senior forward Casey Allen gave the visiting Eagles (3-4, 0-0 2A Area 7) a hard-earned victory, despite being behind by one in the closing seconds of the game.

“I can’t say enough about Casey,” said Goshen head coach Fred Lowery after the game. “This is her first year playing basketball in about three years, but she does the little things for us like rebound and contributing seven or eight points a game. She was able to put it in off the glass to give us the win.”

From the opening tip, both sides appeared to be fairly evenly matched, going back and forth throughout the contest. Goshen was led by standout freshman point guard Bre Griffin, who finished with 42 points in the contest. Griffin, along with junior forward and sister Shimiya Griffin, who contributed 19 points of her own, combined to score all but the last two of their team’s points.

After going up by one with 10 seconds left to play, Bre Griffin stepped up to the free throw line to seal the game for Goshen, but a dead-ball foul was called against Goshen, which gave Providence Christian the chance to take the lead with a pair of free throws at the other end. Following two made free throws from PCS, Lowery called timeout to draw up one final play with 10 seconds left and his team down 61-62.

Griffin split defenders to drive to the basket, then found a wide open Allen for the buzzer-beater. Allen only scored two points in the contest for the visiting Eagles, but it was her layup that went in as time expired that stole the victory from Providence Christian.

Forward Frances Cheshire led the hosting Eagles with 20 points.

“We were able to pull off a big win tonight,” said Lowery. “I just can’t say enough about the girls, how hard they played, and the grit they showed. They found a way to win, and that’s what matters.”

Goshen returns to its home court to take on Brantley on Monday, Dec. 7, in the first game of Goshen’s Christmas tournament. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.