Brytasia Long, DeKalb rebound to seal win against Metea Valley

DeKALB – In a four-point game with 2:30 to play in the game, DeKalb senior forward Brytasia missed a free throw, the first of five straight misses for the Barbs from the charity stripe.

But Long tracked down the rebound and immediately laid it back to push the DeKalb lead to six. Metea Valley never got closer than four in the Barbs' 43-35 win on Tuesday in a DuPage Valley Conference battle.

“I know I made my first one and I was hoping to make my second one. I didn’t,” Long said. “The ball bounced right off the backboard and right into my hands and I knew I had to go up from there.”

Metea Valley senior guard Arianna Hammons started the fourth quarter slashing to the bucket, giving the Mustangs (8-21 overall, 1-9 DVC) their third lead of the day, none greater than two points.

A layup by Olivia Schermerhorn gave the Barbs (19-9, 5-5) the lead right back. After layups by Kezaria Mitchell and Long, the Mustangs scored four straight to cut the lead to 34-33 with 2:22 left.

But the offensive rebounding kicked in for the Barbs and allowed them to put the game away. Johnna Patrick had a chance at the three-point play but missed her free throw. Long got the offensive rebound, made the first one, then grabbed her own miss and laid it in. That pushed the lead to 39-33 with 2:06 left.

“Pressure makes diamonds,” DeKalb coach Bradley Bjelk said. “They know it’s the fourth quarter. Everything’s on the line. We had five seniors out there that played and they didn’t want to go out with a loss on their final home game. So I think we stopped hoping and wishing something would happen and just made it happen. We went and got the loose ball, we held the box out for a split-second more and were just a little more attentive to detail.”

DeKalb finished the game with a 38-32 edge on the boards, powered by a 13-4 edge in the fourth quarter. Long and Zora Watts finished with eight rebounds each, including a combined six in the fourth quarter.

Hammons had seven rebounds for the Mustangs to lead their charge to go with a team-high 13 points.

“We’ve been playing very hard defense in the second half, holding teams to around 40,” Metea Valley coach Nate Gehrt said. “We’re playing tough, we rebounded well in the first half but let it go a little in the second half.”

All three times Metea Valley took the lead, it was on buckets by Hammons. Her layup opened the scoring just 19 seconds in. She had a steal and a layup that put the Mustangs up 25-23 in the third and then the layup to start the fourth.

Sreeitha Duggirala added nine points and three rebounds for the Mustangs, who open their home 4A regional against Bolingbrook at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“We played hard in the second half, we’ve been doing that a lot this year,” Gehrt said. “We just fell short. There was a little bit of a lapse. There was just a lid on the rim in the third quarter. We lost the lead when we got the lead and that was that.”

The Barbs wrap up the regular season Thursday at Plainfield East then open the postseason 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Class 4A Willowbrook Regional against Lake Park.

Long had 10 points, three steals and a block. Patrick had 13 points, six rebounds and two steals. Despite foul trouble, Mitchell finished with six points, five rebounds and three steals.

“Maybe we were just rushing things,” Bjelk said. “It’s senior night, maybe everybody’s emotions are a little bit higher. Everybody was trying to maybe do a little too much. You’re just a split-second off. You just have to see it through the basket.”