Arlington Martin senior drains long game winner, makes SportsCenter
When Tatum Henderson heaved a shot from at least 60 feet on Friday night, she thought “here goes nothing.”
‘Nothing’ quickly turned into something spectacular.
Her shot from three-quarters of the court went straight into the basket as the buzzer sounded, giving Arlington Martin’s girls a 56-53 overtime victory over a stunned Arlington Lamar team.
“I felt I had a good touch on it,” Henderson said. “I was thinking ‘no way is this about to go in’ and it was really in slow motion when I was watching it in the air. It went in and I felt a wave of surprise and happiness.”
The home crowd went crazy and Henderson’s teammates stormed the court and piled onto the senior guard.
“I just jumped up and down and screamed and all of my teammates came around me and gave me hugs and dog piled me. It felt really good to make my team happy like that,” she said. “I was just thinking about how happy I was and how it was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.”
Martin, which trailed by four points after the third quarter, improved to 17-10 and 8-1 in District 4-6A. Lamar dropped to 16-11 and 6-3.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling and I’m so happy for the girls and Tatum,” coach Bethany Gonzalez said. “Tatum had a hard time getting her shot off all game because of Lamar’s defense, but she didn’t quit.”
Henderson’s shot was so good that even ESPN’s SportsCenter picked it up.
SportsCenter’s Twitter account posted her shot then the clip was aired on TV.
“It was literally a dream come true. Last night some people told me ‘hey maybe you’ll get on SportsCenter’ and I just kind of laughed it off,” Henderson said. “Then the tweet from our basketball account started getting more popular and more people started to notice our game.
“I saw the clip on TV and they said my name over and over and I was happy and proud of myself, but I also wished that they mentioned my teammates. I’m very grateful for the recognition, but my teammates definitely deserve most of the credit.”
With three seconds left in regulation, Henderson drove the baseline and dished it to sophomore Kylie Loftis who hit the basket to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, Lamar tied it with 2.4 seconds left before Henderson’s game winner.
Freshmen Mariah Roberts and Autumn Smith led the Warriors with 12 points apiece.
This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Arlington Martin senior drains long game winner, makes SportsCenter."