photo by: Kim North

The senior captains of the Union Local girls basketball team accept their Ohio Division V, East District 2 runner-up trophy after falling to West Muskingum, 30-28, Saturday afternoon inside Gene Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School. Pictured, from left, are Laken Vinskovich, Myah Martin, Delaney Butler and Alli Kellaway.

CAMBRIDGE — Just when it appeared as though Union Local was going to make back-to-back appearances in the Ohio Division V Regional girls’ basketball tournament, a Tornado hit.

West Muskingum’s Teriauna Brandford connected on a three-point basket from the left wing with one second remaining Saturday afternoon, lifting the No. 4 Tornadoes (20-5) to a 30-28 victory over top-seeded Union Local (20-5) inside a packed Gene Ford Gymnasium at Cambridge High School.

“For the adversity that we’ve been through, nobody knows what this group of girls went through yesterday (Friday), and then to lose like that. It’s hard to explain, but there’s a group of girls in there (our lockerroom) that are really hurting right now,” veteran Union Local head coach Lou “Scooter” Tolzda stressed. “To come that close to making another regional, it was like putting a knife in you.

“Yesterday (Friday) was a tough day, but I thought our girls battled and battled today,” Tolzda praised.

Tolzda was referring to the passing of senior Laken Vinskovich’s father, Brad.

Brandford’s bonus goal gave West Muskingum its only lead of the game and ended an 0-for-10 drought from behind the arc for the game.

“Congratulations to West Muskingum. They have a good team, and we just couldn’t score against them,” Tolzda added. “We knew it was going to come down to our defense against their defense and I thought we played outstanding, especially in the second quarter.”

After an 8-all deadlock after one quarter, Union Local rattled off the first 11 points of the second to take a 19-8 advantage. Vinskovich sparked the surge with three straight baskets before Ellie Greenwood knocked down a trey from the left wing and Delaney Butler connected on a pair of free throws.

The Jets led 19-12 at the break.

The Tornadoes slowly but surely crept back into the game, thanks in part to six Union Local turnovers in the third quarter and finally drew even at 25 with 6:12 left to play.

After both teams scored again for a 27-all knotting, the game suddenly slowed down and turned into a chess match.

West Muskingum called timeout with 4:41 remaining and decided to hold the ball as long as it could. Junior Lyla Johnson stood above the top of the circle with the ball while her teammates were setting screens for each other along the baseline until Union Local’s Myah Martin was called for a foul at the 1:50 mark.

Once play resumed, the Tornadoes continued to take the air out of the ball. However, the strategy backfired as they were guilty of an over-and-back call when the ball was kicked into the backcourt with 51.4 on the clock.

Union Local got the ball in low to Vinskovich, but the 6-0 senior misfired. She did, however, get the offensive rebound before being fouled with 23 ticks showing. After the first attempt was off the mark, she knocked down the second for a 28-27 lead.

West Muskingum missed a shot with five seconds left but got the offensive rebound and a timeout with 3.3. Following timeouts by each team, the Tornadoes inbounded the ball to Brandford on the left wing and her shot from well beyond the arc found nothing but net.

Union Local quickly called its last timeout, but a desperation shot from midcourt was off the mark, ending the sparkling careers of Vinskovich and fellow seniors Alli Kellaway, Myah Martin and Delaney Butler.

“I really enjoyed (coaching) this group of girls,” Tolzda said. “As a coach, at the end of the season, whenever that comes, you’re either going to a speech that is good or one that isn’t. That one wasn’t an easy one to give.

“Sometimes you lose but you win and sometimes you win, but you lose,” he said of his final talk with his team. “It may sound funny and a lot of people may not understand that, but I thought we won.”

West Muskingum moves on to regional play on Wednesday at Claymont High School in Uhrichsville against Tuscarawas Valley, which throttled Edison, 59-22, also on Saturday at Minerva High School.