Koppang’s Shooting Keeps the Breakers Alive In State The Tournament

The Loyola Breakers played against the Fairfield Lady Eagles in a win or game home game Friday afternoon at the girls Class B state basketball tournament in Belgrade with the Breakers walking away with a 57-54 win.

To open the game it was a battle of defenses as Fairfields Naemi Wipf knocked down a three pointer to start the scoring, and Sam Clevenger put Loyola on the board the following trip down the court with siix foot jumper. From there it was limited on the offensive front for either team as the majority of the remaining points were scored from the free throw line by the Lady Eagles. As the two teams struggled from the field the Lady Eagles would come out on top 9-5 at the end of the first quarter.

With a brief break at the quarter Loyola head coach Travis Walker calmed his girls down which resulted in a Sydney Koppang three pointer to open the second quarter. The Breakers tied the game at nine with 6:40 left in the first half with a Sam Clevenger free throw, and then the Breakers took their first lead of the game at the 6:08 mark when lone senior Ashton Libel hit a hook shot and went to the free throw line to make it a three point play. At the 3:50 mark of the second quarter the dam gates broke open as both teams went on a scoring spree with fairfield ahead by one at the break.

It would be Breaker ball to start the third quarter with Loyola down 20-19 and just as she did to start the second quarter, Koppang would come out and knock down a three pointer to put the Breakers ahead. Holding the Lady Eagles to free throws in the first four minutes of the third quarter Loyola began to step away from Fairfield by pushing the tempo of the game. When the end of the third quarter rolled around the Breakers had buit up a confortable 11 point lead.

After struggling to from the field for most of the second and third quarters Fairfields offense came a live in the fourth. Down by 11 the Lady Eagles hit a three pointer to make it an eight point game, and then with 3:29 left in the game the Lady Eagles would make it a four point game. Continueing to battle Fairfield would pull within two off of free throws, and then tied the game at 43 with 2:09 left in the game off off another trip to the charity stripe. With 1:15 left in the game the Lady Eagles retook the lead by one, but Koppang would answer with a three of her own to put the Breakers back on top. Fairfield would battle back in the final minute of the game, tieing the game up at the buzzer to force overtime.

Loyola would go on a four point run to open overtime to take the lead. For the next two and half minutes the teams scrapped it out uder the bucket with Fairfield scoring on a free throw for the first time in overtiime at the 1:35 mark. The Lady Eagles hit a mid range jumper to make it a one point game with 1:08 left in the game, but it was Koppang who shined in the closing seconds of the game as she woulld knock down free throws to keep Loyola alive in the tournament.