Lady O remain undefeated after 3OT thriller, Orangemen close battle falls short

PLATTEVIEW - Beatrice basketball settled for another split on Tuesday night in Platteview.

The Lady Orange defeated the Trojans 57-55 in triple overtime while the Orangemen fell 53-51. 

Although it took an extra 12 minutes of game time, the Lady O's tilt with Platteview was a thriller. Beatrice led by a single point at the half, and neither team led by more than five the entire way. Beatrice used a late long possession to control the game late, leading to an overtime.. actually three of them. 

Two buckets a side were all that went on the scoreboard in the first overtime, but Avery Barnard played hero in the second with a late floater n the paint to tie the game and force a third OT. Barnard had a season high eight points. Beatrice would hang on to win 57-55. 

Ellie Jurgens led all scorers with a career high 19 in the win. The Lady Orange improve to 4-0 with the win. 

The Orangemen faced a tough test in Connor Millikan and the high scoring Trojans who entered the game averaging just below 70 points per game. As part of a 17-7 first quarter advantage for Platteview, Millikan scored eight early points, but also committed three early fouls - he sat for a majority of the second quarter, allowing Beatrice to cut the deficit to just one at half, as they trailed 21-20. 

Millikan didn't commit a single foul the rest of the way and totaled 21 of the Trojans' 29 second half points. Beatrice began opening up the scoring as well as Shelton Crawford hit some clutch late threes to keep the game close and give Beatrice periodic leads. 

Platteview did prove to be too much, as they hung on to win 53-51 behind 29 from Millikan, who hit the 2,000 point milestone. 

Beatrice was led in scoring by Shelton Crawford with a season high 18 and Tucker Timmerman with 13. 

Both Beatrice teams host Malcolm on Friday night.