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Senior guard’s last-second shot gives Campbell County 60-57 win over Ohio state champion


By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter

At the end of every practice session, the Campbell County girls’ basketball team works on beat-the-clock plays where they have to inbound the ball and get off a shot as quickly as possible.

The Camels faced that situation with 0.4 seconds left in a home game on Thursday and senior guard Taylor Clos made a miraculous shot to give them a 60-57 win over Mount Notre Dame, the top-ranked team in Cincinnati.

Campbell County senior guard Taylor Clos hit the winning shot and finished with 24 points and six assists in the Camels’ win over Mount Notre Dame that lifted their record to 7-0.

After catching a bounce pass from senior teammate Mackenzie Schwarber in front of the scorer’s table, Clos spun and got off a shot just before the final horn sounded. The ball hit off the backboard, rolled around the rim, kissed off the backboard again and dropped through the nets for a game-winning 3-point basket.

“It was pretty insane, honestly,” Clos said. “I mean, you’ve got .4 seconds left. You ain’t got much time to make a play out of anything. It was just a perfect pass and I just kind of went for it.”

The victory extended Campbell County’s perfect record to 7-0 and two of the wins came against out-of-state teams — Montini Catholic of Illinois and Mount Notre Dame — that started the season in the USA Today Super 25 girls’ high school basketball national rankings.

Campbell County entered the season ranked No. 1 in the Northern Kentucky coaches rankings and the team’s successful start is gaining a lot of attention around the state.

“Our team chemistry is unbelievable,” said coach Beau Menefee. “When you’ve got that and you’ve got good players, you’ve got something special. Now tomorrow this is all over and we’ve got to focus on the games ahead.”

Mount Notre Dame, last year’s Ohio Division I state champion, has three players who have made commitments with NCAA Division I women’s basketball programs, but the talented team got off to a rocky start Thursday and trailed for most of the game.

With 2:10 left in the fourth quarter, Mount Notre Dame senior forward Abby Voss scored off a rebound to give her team a 50-49 lead. Campbell County senior guard Lexie Stapleton made a 3-point shot on her team’s next two possessions, but the Cougars tied it at 55-55 on a trey by Voss with 55 seconds remaining.

A loose ball draws the attention of players from both teams during the second half of the Mount Notre Dame at Campbell County game.

The Camels were trying to run the clock down for a last shot when an official called a foul on a Mount Notre Dame player with eight seconds left. For some reason, Cougars’ head coach Scott Rogers slammed his fist on the end of the scoreboard after that call. The official then called a technical foul on him.

Clos made both technical free throws to give Campbell County a 57-55 lead, but the Camels weren’t able to inbound the ball on the ensuing possession. The Cougars took advantage of that turnover and tied the score once again on a driving layup by junior forward Julia Hoefling with 1.9 seconds left.

Coach Menefee called a timeout and set up one of the beat-the-clock plays the Camels work on in practice. After a deflected pass went out of bounds near the half-court line with 0.4 on the clock, Menefee went with a different play and Clos hit the game-winner.

“That’s how we end every practice, with her taking a last-second shot,” Menefee said. “Maybe not exactly like that, but we practice those last-second scenarios every day and it worked out.”

Both teams had three double-figure scorers. Campbell County shot 57.1 percent (24 of 42) from the field compared to Mount Notre Dame’s 47.7 percent (21 of 44).

Clos scored a game-high 24 points with six assists for the Camels. Schwarber had 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds. Stapleton made four 3-point shots to account for 12 points and lifted her career scoring total over the 2,000 mark.

“We knew we were probably going to see a lot of zone (defense) and we were just going to make sure we were patient with the ball,” Clos said. “We knew they were long and lengthy. We just wanted to make sure we were careful with our passes and made smart decisions.”

Mount Notre Dame’s size advantage wasn’t a factor until the team’s second-half comeback. That’s when 6-foot forwards Hoefling and Voss scored 20 of their 28 combined points.

“They had us by four or five inches at almost every position and that’s going to give you some problems,” Menefee said. “But I think, especially in the first half, our speed and our tenaciousness and our press gave them some problems. I don’t think they were turning it over a ton, but they were just out of sync and throwing up shots, which they don’t usually do.”

MOUNT NOTRE DAME    8  12  14  23 — 57
CAMPBELL COUNTY      10  19   9  22 — 60

MOUNT NOTRE DAME (6-2): Cook 3 2 9, Phelia 2 0 4, Voss 5 0 12, Marshall 5 0 14, Hoefling 5 6 16, Centrillo 1 0 2. Totals: 21 8 57.

CAMPBELL COUNTY (7-0): Clos 9 3 24, Schwarber 8 0 16, Wells 3 2 8, Stapleton 4 0 12. Totals: 24 5 60.

3-pointers: MND — Marshall 4, Voss 2, Cook. CC — Stapleton 4, Clos 3.


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