Tom Schurtz has dubbed his team the ‘Cardiac Kids.’
With good reason.
For the second time in as many games, the Vikings pulled out a dramatic win, this time rallying from 15 down in the second half to win in overtime.
“It was definitely quite the exciting game,” Schurtz said. “They have a good team – they have a lot of nice guard play. I just think we made some critical opportunities.
“They were calling a tight game. It could have easily gone the other way, and we could have been the team in foul trouble. It was an unbelievable finish.”
The Vikings needed a Regie Robinson three at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
“She made a three-pointer with 00.04 on the clock,” Schurtz said. “We ran an inbounds play for her, she pump faked and buried a three as the buzzer sounded.”
Robinson finished with 29 points and did literally all of her damage in the fourth quarter and overtime. The junior standout had one point in the first period, none in the second and three in the third but exploded for 21 in the fourth quarter and tacked on four more in OT. Robinson took 31 foul shots, connecting on 20 of them. All told, the Vikings made 48 trips to the foul line while the Eagles took 33 foul shots and converted 22.
“Both teams dealt with foul trouble, obviously, with that many free throws shot,” Schurtz said of a game that featured 81 foul shots. “We managed to survive it a little bit better.”
Norristown starters Briana Hedgepeth, Devon Morse and Brianna Schools all fouled out in the fourth period.
“I think that was key because we were able to turn up the defensive pressure and create some turnovers,” Schurtz said.
The Vikings’ coach went on to laud a pair of unsung heroes in the win.
“They each only had one point, but given when those points happened, they were critical,” Schurtz said. “Liz Botto, a senior, had the first point of her career from the free throw line after a steal with two minutes left to put us down four.
“Tatum Thomas had a steal and free thrown with under a minute left to put us down two. They went down and hit a free throw to go up three with 15 seconds to play. We had a jump ball inbounds under our basket with four seconds to go. I called timeout, we drew up a play, and Regie buried it to send it to overtime.”
The basket by Robinson capped a 26-14 fourth quarter tear by the Vikings.
“In overtime, I felt we survived the foul onslaught, and I felt as long as we kept the ball in our starters’ hands, we’d find a way to win it,” Schurtz said.
The Vikings outscored the Eagles 10-5 in OT to earn the dramatic win.
“A freshman really salted the game away for us,” Schurtz said. “In back-to-back league games, Jessie Michael has made big three-pointers for us.
“She had a three-pointer in the first quarter to kind of get us going when we were really struggling offensively, and she hit a big three-pointer in overtime to put us up three with two to go, and we never relinquished the lead.”
Michael and Tatiana Pleasant both finished with eight points while Eryn Brady had nine points.
For the Eagles, Hedgepeth led the way with 16 points. Keifonna Ferguson had 13 while Essence Williams added 11 and Schools had 10.
“Briana Hedgepeth played great for them,” Schurtz said. “She’s a great player, and we had trouble containing her all day off the dribble.”
The Vikings evened their SOL record at 4-4 and improved to 8-6 overall while the Eagles are 5-3 in the league (7-6 overall).
Upper Merion won’t have a whole lot of time to celebrate. The Vikings will face the Indians in the SOL Challenge at Souderton (2 p.m.).
“We’ll see if we can find a way to get our legs back under us,” Schurtz said. “We’ll do the best we can against another great team. We’ve played some tough teams this week. Upper Dublin, Norristown and Souderton – that’s a tough week.
“We’re a young team, and we’re starting to find our way.”
Norristown     9          10        17        14        5-56
Upper Merion6          15        4          26        10-61