By Will Willems
LEBANON — The Lebanon girls' basketball team has lost its share of close games this season.
Luck wasn't on its side again Wednesday as the Tigers lost 48-47 to Brownsburg when Erika Lesch's layup beat the buzzer.
The loss spoiled Lebanon's Senior Night.
“I hate for the seniors that we lost,” Lebanon head coach Dave Ferrell said. “Brownsburg is an outstanding team; you have to give credit to them.”
Lesch's layup capped off a back-and-forth final five minutes. After trailing by as many as 17 in the first half, Brownsburg battled back to take its first lead of the game with 5:10 remaining after two free throws from Lindsey Dall.
The Bulldogs (16-5) turned it over on their next two possessions, but both times Lebanon missed a three pointer on the other end. Stephanie Mavunga made one of two free throws to give Brownsburg a two-point lead, but Lexi Reese answered by hitting one of two free throws herself.
The Bulldogs Ryne Carr was called for a charge on the next possession and Mavunga fouled Alison Curtis on the ensuing possession. Curtis hit both free throws to give the Tigers the lead.
After a Brownsburg miss, Katie Curtis hit two free throws with 1:28 left to push the Lebanon lead to three. After a basket by Mavunga, Lebanon turned it over and Brownsburg made them pay with Lesch's basket putting Brownsburg up 46-45 with 55 seconds left.
Lebanon reclaimed the lead with 24 seconds left, when senior Brittany Branstetter scored her only two points of the game to give Lebanon a 47-46 lead.
After a timeout, Brownsburg got the ball inside to Mavunga, but she missed a short shot and traveled after grabbing the rebound with 4.9 seconds remaining.
Lebanon (10-11) tried to go long on the in-bounds pass to beat the Bulldogs press, but the throw was well over the head of Katie Curtis. The Tiger freshman did get a hand on the ball and almost saved it, but possession went to Brownsburg with 3.4 seconds left.
Needing to go the length of the court, Carr threw a pass to Lesch at midcourt. The Bulldog junior split two Lebanon defenders and raced down court for an uncontested layup that fell through as time expired.
Lebanon raced out to a 17-point halftime lead, but Brownsburg came out firing in the third quarter. The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the second half to cut the lead to 11.
After a Kalyn Harker basket made the lead 12 for Lebanon, Brownsburg scored the next eight points to close to four and trailed by six at the end of three quarters.
The Bulldogs scored the first seven points in the final period, holding Lebanon scoreless for the first 5:23 .
Ferrell said the defense of Brownsburg put good pressure on his guards.
“I thought they (Brownsburg) stood around a little bit in the first half defensively,” Ferrell said. “They were out of the flow of the game and in the second half their defense got them back in the flow. We didn't respond well. We responded with turnovers and missed some open shoots.”
