TURNER — Edward Little guard Hannah Chaput stole the ball, looked back for a moment as she slowed her approach to the basket and scored on a layup with 2:13 left in the game.
Those two points took the pressure off the Red Eddies, who escaped with a 42-35 victory over Leavitt in a hard-fought girls basketball game Thursday night.
A minute later, Chaput was fouled, and she sank both shots, giving the Red Eddies a 39-32 lead with over a minute left in the game. She finished with a game-high 21 points.
The senior guard had no problem admitting she was nervous on both key plays.
“Oh, yes,” she said. “I was like trying to slow down so I wouldn’t miss (the layup). I said, ‘Don’t miss it, please!’”
Chaput went 7-for-13 at the foul line, but making those clutch free throws at the end helped her and the Eddies relax, knowing the win was nearly in hand.
“My coach was just saying, ‘You got it, Hannah. You got it.’ I just tried to focus,” Chaput said.
Senior guard Chantel Ouellette (12 points) took the heat off Chaput and the rest of Eddies when she dropped in a free throw and, seconds later, stole the ball and scored on a layup to cap EL’s second victory of the season.
Ouellete also said she was feeling the pressure when she stepped to the foul line.
“Yeah, but I have been in this position before,” she said. “But I knew I had to lead my team in. I thought we all played together as one.”
But not a thing came easy for the Red Eddies (2-8), as the Hornets were their typical rugged selves on the court.
“Yeah, it was a very physical game,” Chaput said. “We were all playing like that, but we tried to keep our cool. I think we did pretty good with that. I wasn’t expecting them to be that physical.”
What gave EL a boost was an eight-point second-quarter run that allowed the Eddies to build a 21-15 lead at halftime.
“It is one of those things that when you play against a team that does a really good job defensively, every possession is big,” Edward Little coach Chris Cifelli said. “One of the things we wanted to do is make sure they couldn’t set up in their defense. So we had some of those fast breaks and we able to get some (baskets) in transition. That helped us out a lot.
“And I am really proud of how we were able to get some stops at crucial moments,” he added. “They did dig into the lead a little bit.”
Senior forward Taylor White was the Hornets’ leading scorer with 14 points, including four 3-pointers.
At the request of Leavitt coach Dave Gerrish, White was asked to speak for the team, which is experiencing growing pains this season.
“It is hard not winning games, but keeping up the energy and doing well is pretty much all you can do,” she said. “I think EL did good, but I think it was a winnable game.
“It was really close,” she added. “I think we really hustled, and in the end they got more baskets than we did. Our defense really came together in the second half.”
Emelia Bowie added seven points for the Hornets.
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