
Martin girls upset Arlington Bowie at the buzzer, 40-39
By MILENKO MARTINOVICH
mmartinovich@star-telegram.com

STAR-TELEGRAM/DARRELL BYERS
Arlington Martin's Brooke Melton (center) is mobbed by teammates after her buzzer-beating shot that gave the Lady Warriors a 40-39 victory against Arlington Bowie on Thursday.
ARLINGTON – As Thursday’s game between Arlington Bowie and Arlington Martin seemed destined to end with a close Bowie victory, the Lady Warriors snatched it away in dramatic fashion.
Brooke Melton nailed a desperation 3-point shot as time expired to lift Martin to a 40-39 victory at Martin High School.
"It was going to take a miraculous shot for us to win," Martin coach David Amis said. "And that’s what we got."
Bowie (24-7, 5-4 in District 4-5A), No. 4 in the Star-Telegram Class 5A area rankings, seemingly had the game in hand when Lauren McKinney converted an inside bucket with three seconds remaining to give the Lady Volunteers a 39-37 lead.
But Martin’s prayer was answered. The Lady Warriors (19-8, 6-3), No. 9 in the Star-Telegram 5A rankings, inbounded the ball from underneath their own basket and made two passes out to Melton, who heaved her shot from well behind the 3-point line setting off a joyous celebration.
"I kind of went into shock," said Melton, whose 3-pointer was her only field goal of the second half. "My first thought was to just scream, then hug all my teammates. It’s like time stood still."
The loss was stinging to Bowie, who played Thursday night without guard Casey Riley, who might miss the rest of the regular season with a knee injury suffered last week against Mansfield Summit. The Lady Volunteers needed an increased effort against Martin, but didn’t receive it.
"The players who are on the court and are counted on to make plays didn’t make plays," Bowie coach Wanda Talton said. "We couldn’t score when we needed to."
Bowie’s comfortable 11-point, halftime lead dwindled in the third quarter as the Lady Volunteers recorded only one field goal in the frame allowing Martin to cut the lead to six entering the fourth.
And the Lady Warriors achieved that with their top two scorers – Destynee McCray and Rachel Wesen – combining four only four points. Reserve Makenzie Jordan picked up the slack scoring a team-high 10 points.