Fawn Brady saved her best for last.
The Grand Junction High School junior, who had 11 points heading into the fourth quarter Saturday, went on a scoring binge with three minutes left in he Tigers’ 55-53 victory over Mountain Vista.
Brady scored 10 points in a two-minute span to give Grand Junction its final lead of the game.
“I really wanted to win,” Brady said. “My teammates were playing hard and I noticed I didn’t have the best game. I knew I needed to step it up.”
Brady’s baskets came at a crucial time, helping make up for a 15-0 run the Golden Eagles started the final quarter with, a run that turned a seven-point Grand Junction lead into an eight-point deficit.
“That’s a team that you can just see they play in a tough league and they know they’ve got to play right to the end,” said Grand Junction coach Sam Provenza.
The Golden Eagles, who trailed 42-35 at the end of the third quarter, found themselves in the game largely because of the 3-point shooting of freshman Lena Jaycox. Jaycox hit three shots from beyond the arc in the final quarter and Halie Conroy also added a 3-pointer and two free throws.
“If we get good looks, we can knock down some shots but we just kind of ran out of gas there at the end,” Mountain Vista coach Steve Johnson said.
The Mountain Vista run came to an end with three minutes left, when Jamie Derrieux hit two free throws to give the Tigers their first points of the quarter, which were followed by Brady’s 10 points. Kricket Adleman added a free throw to give Grand Junction its final points.
Provenza was quick to note how some of the small things the team did, including a layup by Stephanie Drake to end the first half, eventually made the difference in the game.
“When you think about how big was that shot that Drake hit at the buzzer?” Provenza asked. “How big is a shot like that in this game? Those little things just make such a difference.”
Brady finished with 21 points, Derrieux had 15 and Nicole Dohm had eight points in the post.
For Mountain Vista, Jaycox finished with 15 and Conroy had 13.
