By AMELIO RODRIGUEZ
Dowagiac Daily News

PORTAGE – There will be a new state champion in Class A this season thanks to the Niles girls’ basketball team.

The Vikings got a put-back basket from Savannah Wolnik with 0.2 left on the clock to lift Niles past Benton Harbor 43-41 in the opening round of the district tournament at Portage Northern High School.

The whole game came down to the last 6.3 seconds.

Niles had possession with the score tied at 41 when Niles coach Patrick Touhey called a timeout with 6.3 remaining on the clock.

The play he called was designed for Nichole Sly to get the ball going to the basket and hopefully she could get off a good shot. “We wanted Nichole to get the basketball going to the hole,” said Touhey. “When she ran in from out of bounds to get the handoff they all attacked her, and we said if she misses there is going to be nobody on the other side of the basket.”

He was right. On the other side of the basket was Wolnik all by herself to get the rebound and the game-winning basket.

Just 17 days ago Niles traveled to Benton Harbor and beat the Tigers on their home floor by a score of 58-56. Many people believed that win was just a fluke. After another 2-point victory by the Vikings, it’s safe to say that Niles belongs on the same floor as the Tigers.

Niles struggled early and often, but they managed to keep it close, never trailing by more than six points at any point in the game and even managing to lead by two 11-9 after the first period.

In the second period, the Tigers outscored the Vikings by a count of 12-6 to give them a four-point advantage at the break, 21-17.

The Vikings were led in the first half by Sly with six points, Alex McIntee with five and Jenna Grannell with four. Deborah Meeks with 12 of her game-high 27 points and Damonica Buford with six of her nine points led the Tigers.

Those two would combine for 36 of the Tigers’ 41 points.

The Vikings came out in the third quarter matching the Tigers nearly basket for basket, but were not able to find a way to get themselves over the hump and get a lead.

At least not until the final buzzer of the quarter.

With just around five seconds to play in the quarter, McIntee grabbed a loose ball and started to push up the floor, she passed it off to teammate Maureen Craig, who let one fly towards the basket from just inside half court.

As the ball was halfway to the basket the horn sounded, the only other noise you could hear was the sound of the ball going through the net and then the Niles faithful rising to their feet to cheer on the girls that had finally gotten over the hump and got a lead.

“What a momentum builder that shot was to finish that quarter with,” Touhey said. “That shot loosened us up. The kids were smiling and laughing on the bench. It just helped us to not be so anxious in the fourth quarter.”

Craig’s buzzer beater gave Niles the momentum it needed heading into the final stanza, but it was Wolnik’s heroics that has Niles heading to the second round of the Class A District and a potential showdown with Mattawan, a team that Niles also split a pair of regular season games with.

The Vikings play 6 p.m. on Wednesday against Kalamazoo Central, which defeated Portage Northern 46-36 in the final game of the evening on Monday.

Mattawan knocked off Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 73-63 in the first game of the tripleheader. The Wildcats will face Portage Central on Wednesday.