STROUD — Bethany senior Maddison McNutt’s floater with 4.3 seconds capped a frenzied fourth-quarter comeback for the Bronchos in a 34-32 win over Grove Thursday (March 5).

The win kept Bethany’s playoff run alive and sent the squad to the area semifinal on Friday.

The Bronchos trailed 29-19 to start the fourth quarter. Neither team scored for over three minutes until Broncho junior Camryn Regier sank two free throws at the 4:52 mark to make it 29-21.

Bethany’s swarming full-court press gave Grove problems in the fourth quarter. After a pressure-induced turnover, senior McKenna Calderon hit a 3-pointer. Another turnover led to a pair of free throws from junior Ali Linn to make it 29-26 with 3:44 left.

Yet another turnover led to more free throws. Calderon was fouled but was injured and came out of the game. Sophomore Kamryn Donley hit 1 of 2 shots from the line to make it 29-27.

A Bethany turnover led to two free throws from Grove senior Rowan Geer to extend the lead back to four points with 2:37 left, 31-27.

The momentum was with the Bronchos, however. An errant pass from senior Reese Harris inside to Regier ended up in Donley’s hands. She hit a baseline jumper to make it 31-29.

After a Grove travel, Regier tied the game at 31 with a layup at 1:18.

Bethany had chances to score after a steal by Linn, but the shots weren’t falling. Regier did hit the backend of two free throws with :33 left to make it 32-31.

A foul at midcourt by Harris tied the game at 32 when Greer hit her second free throw.

Bethany coach Eric Sailer called timeout with :15 left.

Coming out of the timeout, the Bronchos moved the ball around the perimeter. Maddison McNutt tried to drive inside but backed back out behind the 3-point line. Then, she drove the baseline and lofted the ball up and it went in with 4.3 seconds left.

Grove called timeout and she was mobbed her coaches and teammates.

The Ridgerunners got the ball to midcourt but Harris intercepted it and was fouled with 0.2 seconds left.

Harris missed the first free throw and tried to intentionally miss the second shot but the ball didn’t hit the rim.

That gave Grove the basketball and time for a hail mary shot. Greer’s half court toss was well short, sealing the win for Bethany.

The Bronchos outscored Grove 15-3 in the final period.

Regier led Bethany with 19 points, including eight points in the third quarter. Calderon and Linn both finished with five points.

Donley’s scored three points and Maddison McNutt’s game-winning bucket rounded out the scoring.

Greer scored a game-high 23 points, including all three points in the fourth quarter. She hit three treys in the loss.

UP NEXT

Bethany (23-4) faces Verdigris (17-10) Friday (March 6) at 1 p.m.

The Cardinals earned a 53-52 win over Woodward Thursday.

	1	2	3	4	F
Bethany (23-4)	5	4	10	15	34
Grove (20-9)	8	7	14	3	32