MIA Girls Steal the Show in Double Overtime Thriller

The boys' JV and varsity games were merely warm-up acts for Marco Island Academy's girls' team Friday night. While the boys’ teams looked good while taking comfortable wins over Donahue Catholic, it was the girls who brought the house down by playing the most thrilling basketball game their shiny new gym has hosted.

What started out as a rather ho-hum affair, with the Rays holding an 11-5 lead after the first quarter, turned into a night of three-point buzzer beaters and a final score that ended up 59-52 in favor of the Rays. The student section stormed the court deliriously at the end of the second overtime to celebrate the big win.

The previously once beaten Shamrocks emerged from their dressing room minutes after the game, many of them crying openly. As they walked by Rays head coach Travis Barry, the coach stopped what he was doing to praise each player. They accepted the coach’s congratulations through bleary eyes. It was that kind of game.

“The girls stole the show tonight,” Barry said after the game, “they stuck with it, stayed with it. It was a hard-fought game. There were a lot of tears. Both teams played very hard.”

It’s hard to say who was more excited - the fans, the coaches, the players, or the clock operator, who accidentally added three points to Donahue's total after MIA’s Jocelyn Snover hit a three-point buzzer beater to tie the game at the end of regulation. The scoreboard must have looked surreal to Rays fans when it flashed 41-35 in favor of the visitors, with zeroes on the clock. But the clock operator's gaffe was quickly corrected and the scoreboard read 38-38 as the teams prepared for their first overtime period.

It looked like the Rays had the game put away, leading 48-45 with eight seconds left in the first overtime. But Ellie Guernsey calmly launched a three-pointer as the clock was winding down. It was Donahue’s only three-pointer. 

"Jocelyn Snover hit a three-pointer to go into overtime,” Barry said incredulously, "then their girl hit a three to go into double overtime.”

Kathryn Barry saved her best for last, catching fire in the fourth quarter and overtime. The coach’s daughter, who is the team’s primary ball handler, hit two big three-pointers in overtime and hit 12 straight free throws - and 14 overall - during the fourth quarter and overtime periods. She had just seven points after three quarters. She finished with 30 points. She also put on a pretty good dribbling exhibition to run out the clock at the end of the second overtime.

Kathryn Barry sank an important three-pointer with the Rays trailing 52-50 with 1:37 left in the second overtime.

"Kathryn hit the big deep one when we were down two,” Barry said of his daughter’s clutch shot. "That put us up one. Then she hit three free throws after being fouled shooting a three. That helped. That three-ball is a game changer.”

Barry’s bench came through in the end as three of his regulars fouled out. As a dejected Jocelyn Snover came to the bench after fouling out, her coach encouraged her. “We wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for you,” Barry said, reminding Snover of her three-pointer at the end of regulation. She had six points on the evening, on two three-pointers.

"We fouled out three girls,” Barry said. "It’s hard when you only have eight.”

Jocelyn's twin sister, Cadence Snover, finished with 16 points - 11 of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime periods. The rest of the team combined for just six points, but all were needed to vanquish Donahue.

MIA improves to 4-3 with the win. Donahue falls to 5-2. The Rays were scheduled to participate in a holiday tournament in Vero Beach during the first week of their Christmas break.

“They’re having their Christmas party tonight, exchanging gifts,” Barry said, “they’re fired up."