Martin takes over, lifts Timber Creek to victory

The celebration was dying down, the emotions were calming, and Jasmine Martin sat down on the bleachers, trying to break down exactly what had just happened.

Eyes still welling with tears, Martin talked about how, with three defenders in her face, she drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.

She shed light on what it takes to hit 14 of 14 free throws, including 6 of 6 in the fourth quarter and 4 of 4 in OT.

The Timber Creek senior finished with 29 points, willing the seventh-seeded Chargers to a 44-43 victory over No. 2 Kingsway in the second round of the South Jersey Group 3 girls' basketball tournament.

Martin's performance Thursday at Kingsway was nothing short of inspired.

After the game, the Quinnipiac recruit kept coming back to the promise she had made to her teammates, a sentiment that served as her simple inspiration.

"I came in here today and just said, 'We are not losing this game,' " she said. "We were down five points with two minutes left, and I said, 'It's not over.' Even with one minute left, we were down. . . . But I wasn't going to let my team down."

Timber Creek moves on to play Saturday against the winner of No. 14 Moorestown vs. No. 6 Central Regional.

Martin, a 5-foot-9 forward, scored only six points in a low-scoring first half. But she scored 13 of her team's 17 points in the fourth quarter.

With 11 seconds left in regulation and Timber Creek (20-7) down by 38-35, Martin lined up at midcourt to inbound the ball.

She threw the ball in and circled under the basket, receiving a pass in the opposite corner.

With three defenders guarding her in the final second of the fourth quarter:

"I pulled up, and I knew I had to make it," Martin said. "I just kept my follow-through up, and it went in. I told my coach, 'With 11 seconds left, I'm taking the last shot.' "

Martin put her team up by 40-38 with two free throws in the first minute of overtime.

Kingsway (19-6), though, had led for most of the first four quarters and didn't go away quietly.

Senior Heather Juhring, who paced the Dragons with 12 points, netted a jump shot with 28 seconds left, giving Kingsway a 43-42 lead.

But with 10 seconds left, Deanna Miller found senior Sierra Peters (8 points) under the basket. Peters made the layup, and Timber Creek held on for the win.

"Things weren't going our way at first," Peters said. "But I have a lot of faith in our team. I believe in our team, and I knew that we weren't going to give up. I knew that for a fact."

The Dragons, particularly Juhring, did an admirable job of holding Martin in check for much of the game before the fourth quarter.

"I thought we played awesome defense on them," Kingsway coach Karyn Pickard said. "But [Martin] played great down the stretch. We were just unlucky today."

Timber Creek   6 6 9 17 6 – 44

Kingsway   8 7 7 16 5 – 43

TC: Sierra Peters 8, Jasmine Martin 29, Deanna Miller 7.

K: Heather Juhring 12, Maddie Flynn 6, Taylor Johnson 5, Allie Bradian 7, Christy Pentz 1, Liz Faulkner 12.