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KES battles Chaminade of California in a Triple Overtime Thriller

What an end to the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Arizona for the KES Girls Prep Basketball team. The fourth and final game of the event was played against Chaminade Prep from California. 

The game started out with both teams felling each other out, and the KES girls having balanced scoring and excellent defending to take the first quarter lead 11-8. It was evident that this game was going to be nip and tuck all way to the final buzzer. 

The second quarter saw KES continue to attack the rim on offense, with several strong drives and finishes. Chaminade was up to the test, and the teams went to the half time break, with KES leading 24- 20. 

Chaminade came out in the third quarter on a run that closed the gap and made Coach Ffrench call a timeout in order to stop the offensive run. After the girls settled in and responded with timely shooting and excellent team play, which sent the teams to the 4th quarter with the same 4 point margin, 38-34 KES. 

The crowd became a full house of other teams, university coaches, and various supporters at the facility now surrounded the court to watch this exciting game. The 4th quarter became an offensive explosion for both teams. For much of the quarter, Chaminade made a series of layups after beating the KES defenders. The KES girls kept up with the Californians as long as possible to preserve the win, but Chaminade answered a late Heavyn Beals 3 pointer with a layup of their own to tie the game at 56 with time expiring and pushing the game to OT. 

Overtime went back and forth with Julia Strickey making two free throws with 18 seconds to play, to open a 65-63 lead. Chaminade set an excellent offense play which resulted in a layup to tie the game with 2 seconds left on the clock. The 1st Overtime ended in a 65-65 tie. 

The second overtime went much the same as the first, with KES racing out to a 4 point lead, with some timely shooting by Aaliyah Arab - Smith and Mackenzie Smith leading the way. Savannah Provo, for the second day in a row, provided leadership and important high intelligent play, to keep the Prep team in control. But as in the first overtime, the California School wouldn't quit, and a timely steal off a Arab-Smith drive when KES was up 75-74, gave the Californians a odd person rush going the other way, which finished with a layup for the Eagles to go up 76-75 with less than 15 seconds left in the period. Arab-Smith found a seam in the defense, and drove to the hoop, and got fouled on the way, sending her to the line for two foul shots, and 4.2 seconds on the clock. Aaliyah missed the first one, but made the second to tie the game at 76, and the game headed to triple overtime. 

Triple overtime saw several close missed shots by KES, and Chaminade finding the range to open up a 4 point lead. The Windsor based students dug deep for one more push, that included a charge foul call on Smith, which seemed to take the wind out of the sails of the Nova Scotians. Aaliyah Arab-Smith made a great layup off a pass from Savannah Provo to close the game to within 3 with 21 seconds left in the game. From that point on, the game became a free throw shooting contest and Chaminade closed out KES with a 83-78 final score. Mackenzie Smith led the way on the scoreboard with 30 points, and Aaliyah provided 21 points to the cause.

This game wrapped up a successful week at this major tournament, which saw a gathering of some of the best Girls High School teams from around the United States. The KES girls showed they can play with anyone lined up opposite them and really did the school proud. 

Now we are officially on our holiday break, and will see everyone back at school on January 2nd, 2019! 
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King’s-Edgehill School is located in Mi'kma'ki, the unceded ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq People.