Jade Summey buries the game-winning 3-pointer for Burr Oak Tuesday against Calhoun Christian.
(Photo courtesy of Burr Oak)
Jade Summey hoisted a 3-pointer at the buzzer that was on target to give the Burr Oak girls basketball team a 34-31 victory Tuesday over visiting Calhoun Christian. The season-opening win was the program’s first victory since the 2010-11 campaign — when Summey was a freshman.
Jade Summey
“We worked really well as a team, played hard for four quarters and communicated well,” said Summey, a 5-foot-7 senior forward. “I just so happened to have the ball when time was running out waited until the last second and luckily it went in. Everyone just yelled. I think they thought I wasn’t going to shoot. It was pretty dramatic. The team went crazy. They actually made me fall down.”
Summey led the team with 19 points, 14 rebounds and three steals. Junior guard Jade Lown poured in eight points and grabbed two boards, six steals and registered four assists. It’s the first time she has felt what it’s like to win a contest since the eighth grade.
“We came out really lazy and sloppy at first,” Lown said of a one-point deficit at halftime. “Realizing what we did wrong, we came back in the second half strong. Our defense was a lot better. We looked for open people instead of just forcing it. When we got the ball, we slowed down and our plays actually worked. All we needed to do tonight was talk and help each other out and we did.
“We were so excited. Everyone said that Burr Oak is not anything. But I know we are just proving everybody wrong this year in every sport. That’s what we did tonight.”
The Bobcats got a boost off the bench after halftime by Sydney Owens (eighth grade), who “entered the game with high energy and intensity that seemed to lift up the rest of the team,” according to head coach Jennifer Sutton.
Owens finished the game with two rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Key contributions were also made by senior Michaela Ultz, who finished the game with four points, four rebounds and five steals, and freshman Hannah Root, who posted three points, three rebounds, four steals and an assist.