Lizzie Greenberg Leads Ladue to 47-45 Win Over Visiting Parkway Central Colts

Over the holiday break, the girls’ basketball team was a player short. Junior Lizzie Greenberg was vacationing in sunny Mexico with her family.

Trip over, the 5-foot-10 forward has returned with determination and purpose. She played her heart out in a game the Rams eeked out over Tuesday night at home, 47-45. Greenberg led Ladue with 14 big points, most coming after the break.

The game almost ended in a controversial dispute. With 1.3 left on the game clock, the referee under the basket handed the ball to Greenberg who dropped in the first of two free throws. Two ref’s were conferring at mid-court and they tried to wave off the free throw. After a long dispute, they said the first attempt counted. Greenberg missed the second and when Parkway Central failed to get off a shot, the game ended.

“The ref’s said it was error, but an in correctable error, so we had to live with it,” said Colt’s coach Ryan Guilfoyle, moments after the teams shook hands.

It was a crazy game. Down by as many as six in the first half, the Rams battled back to take a ten point lead 42-32 with 5:06 left the game. From there, the Rams proceeded to give most of the lead back.

At the 2:33 mark of the final quarter, Ladue’s mainstay in the middle Taylor Robinson tweaked her ankle and fouled out with 12 points, eight points below her season’s average.

With 1:15 remaining, Chelsey Gibson  was fed a perfect pass inside and hit a layup and made a free throw to tie the game at 44-44.

The highlight of the game came on the next trip down the floor. Senior Katie Holloway sprinted the floor and fired up a left-handed hook shoot for a 46-44 lead with 23.2 seconds left. The Rams hung on for the win,

“We like to make our fans earn their dollars worth,” said an obviously pleased Dockery. “We call Kate’s shot the infamous Holloway hook shot,” he said with a laugh.

Dockery had special praise for Central’s sophomore forward Christie Bergesh. Bergesh had 19 points to lead all scorers, 16 came in the first half. She too had to sit with second half foul troubles.

“She’s tough, especially when she was driving the base line in the first half. We couldn’t stop her,” said Dockery.

Greenberg, who led with 14 points was happy with her performance. “That was a tough game and we had to fight until the end. We were playing better this time last year but we lost some players to graduation. We are just finding out how we can all play better together,” she said. “You might call us a work in progress.”

Guilfoyle tipped his hat to the host Rams. “They have 11 wins. They are a good team. They (Ladue) played hard on both ends of the court. We are mostly a young team, and we’re still learning a lot,” said Central’s coach.

Chelsey Gibson scored 11 for Central. Holloway had 11 for the Rams. The Colts fell to 8-8.

Ladue had 26 rebounds in the game; only four came on the offensive boards. The Rams hit 17 of 32 free throws. “I’m just glad we won,” said Dockery.