Linden scores 20 in fourth for comeback win in South Regional

DOTHAN — Linden’s hopes of returning to the state championship game appeared doomed before Amber Richardson emerged from the locker room with 2:48 to play in the third quarter Friday.

The Patriots trailed by as many as 12 in the game and 11 in the fourth quarter before mounting a 20-5 run over the game’s final 6:15 to beat Pleasant Home 55-51 in the first round of the Class 1A South Regional.

“We’re resilient. We don’t give up quick. We’re digging deep. That’s what we work hard for,” Linden coach Teressa Bolden said of her team’s effort in the comeback victory. “We live by this: if you want it, you’re going to have to take it. That was our motto. We live by it.”

Richardson left the game due to injury with 1:48 left in the first half with her team down 27-21.

“This is what we worked for. We told them we were going to have to dig deep,” Bolden said of her message to her team at halftime as it appeared Richardson would not return. “Nobody was going to help. Nobody was going to double. Everybody was going to have to play their own man. We were doubling (Baldwin) but then everybody was just going to have to play.”

“I knew I had to be back out there because they’re my sisters. I’m not going to give up on them. They’re not going to give up on me. I just had to go out there and hustle, knock down free throws because they’re free,” Richardson said of her thought process while she was sidelined with a lower leg injury. “I was more determined that I wasn’t going to give up no matter how bad it was hurting. They got beat up. They still hustled out there. I got beat up, I put a sleeve on it and took off.”

From there, Pleasant Home opened the lead to double figures and wrested away any trace of Linden momentum by the 2:48 mark of the third quarter when Bolden called timeout with her team down 41-29.

“They’re like sisters, so they knew that she was OK. That was the main thing,” Bolden said of the noticeable uptick in her team’s energy as Richardson stepped back onto the court. “But, also, we had her in that middle to help with the long passes when they were putting so much pressure. So it was a big energy boost right there.”

Tyroneisha Charleston started the run with a steal and a drive to cut it to 41-31. Richardson then connected on a drive before dishing off to Tomysha Boykin for a layup to set it at 41-35 and force an Eagle timeout with 56.2 left in the third quarter.

Pleasant Home sophomore River Baldwin then reasserted herself with a personal 5-0 run to move the lead to 46-35 early in the fourth quarter.

“We were trying to double her but we seemed to have done a better job when we went one-on-one with her. We were so focused on doubling her and two people staying on her that it was pulling away from our other pressure on the other guards,” Bolden said of her team’s strategy to combat Pleasant Home’s 6-4 sophomore center. “She’s an awesome player though.”

With 6:15 to go, the game began to turn. Richardson connected on a shot inside the paint to make it 46-37. Dajia Miller then hit a pair of free throws with 5:35 to play to cut it to 46-39.

“I just had to step it up a little bit. I knew it was playoff season and I didn’t want to go home,” Miller said of her offensive output down the stretch. “I had to either score or go home.”

After struggling from the outside all night, Linden got a boost when Miller dished off to Tomysha Boykin who drained a three to cut it to 46-42. Richardson then hit a pullup from the free throw line to make it a one-possession game at 46-44. After a Richardson free throw, Boykin made one of her own with 3:09 to go to tie the game at 46.

Linden took the lead for only the second time in the contest with 2:19 to go when Boykin turned another Miller dime into a three-pointer for the 49-46 advantage.

“It was because I knew that we were down,” Boykin said. “I guess they just started falling because I knew what I had to do in order to get my team back where we needed to be and on track.”

In the game’s final minute, a free throw contest ensued. Miller and Richardson each made a pair before Baldwin hit a three-pointer to cut it to a 2-point game with 14 seconds left. Boykin then went to the line with her team up 53-51 and 3.3 second left on the clock.

“I better make these. That’s what I was thinking. I didn’t want to let my team down,” Boykin said. “Free throws, in the end, they actually count for a lot. I had to step to the line and knock them down.”

Boykin nailed both shots to ice the win. Linden had previously beaten Pleasant Home 63-37 at the Brantley Christmas Tournament Dec. 17, 2016.

“It’s playoff season. Everybody is ready to play. I tell my girls it’s like hunting season. Either you’re the sniper or you’re the deer. Pick which one you want to be. Right now, we want to be the snipers,” Bolden said.

Baldwin led all players with 35 points and 18 rebounds. Richardson led Linden with 17 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Boykin had 15 points while Miller finished with 11 points and six steals.

Linden (22-4) is set to play in the finals of the South Regional at the Dothan Civic Center Tuesday at 4 p.m. against the winner of Kinston and J.F. Shields.