Grapevine girls headed to regional quarterfinals after buzzer beater sinks Summit
Grapevine junior forward Emery Kirkpatrick hit the biggest shot of her basketball career as her 3-pointer from the right wing beat the buzzer and sent the Mustangs by Mansfield Summit, 45-43, in a Class 5A Region 1 area round game on Saturday at Irving HS.
“We just wanted a shot and we got it to our best shooter,” Grapevine coach Greg Gay said. “We got it to the right person and Emery made a great shot. Watching it felt like slow motion and to see it go through the net, it was awesome.”
The Mustangs (22-5) advance to the regional quarterfinal round for the first time since 2016 and will play 5A No. 7 Mansfield Legacy (26-1), which beat Granbury Saturday night.
Grapevine had the lead for the majority of the game and found itself up four after Ceci Cerone assisted on a Carly Snead layup with 4:20 left in the fourth quarter.
Summit (10-12) chipped away with back-to-back baskets by Ashton Mansker, and Alyssa Taylor added two field goals, first with 25 seconds left to cut it to 42-41. Her second put the Jaguars ahead 43-42 with 9.2 left after they stole a Grapevine inbound pass and ran the length of the court.
Grapevine called a timeout and had to go full court before Kirkpatrick’s shot. Mimi Margiotta took the inbound pass and tossed it to Cerone on the left wing. Cerone dribbled to the middle and passed it to Kirkpatrick, who threw up the shot with 1.5 on the clock.
“I think it’s crazy. I’m just so happy we made it to round three,” Kirkpatrick said. “We practice that play once in a while, the buzzer beater and just getting the ball down the floor in time. I had faith in Mimi and Ceci that they’d get the ball to me and I was open in time and made it.”
Summit, like all Mansfield schools, couldn’t practice during the week due to the winter storm that hit across Texas while Grapevine got in one practice on Friday.
It showed early on as Grapevine doubled up Summit with a 16-8 lead in the first quarter on a Margiotta three from the left wing. Summit ended the period on a 7-0 run to pull within 16-15 thanks to a pair of Mansker baskets.
“It’s been a crazy week,” Gay said. “We felt good like we were coming together even though we had been off during the week. We had a good practice on Friday and good walk-through today.”
Grapevine responded with the first seven points in the second quarter and a Snead layup pushed the margin to eight midway through the period. Grapevine led 25-24 at intermission.
Summit finally took the lead at 33-31 with a pair of Jaiona Jackson free throws and Grapevine tied it two possessions later on a Kennadi Archibald floater inside the paint. It was tied at 35-35 at the end of three.
Kirkpatrick hit four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 14 points. Snead added 12 and Margiotta chipped in eight. Grapevine made seven threes and didn’t attempt a single free throw.
Mansker led Summit with a game-high 16 points. Taylor added eight.
Said Gay, “We knew it was going to be a battle. We just wanted a chance at the end.”
