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Buzzer Beater: From Beyond Half Court

By Tom Schardin, 03/10/15, 11:15AM CDT

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Shaye Barton goes by the Twitter handle - Shayonce.

But in the Section 2AAAA semifinals, the senior on the Prior Lake girls basketball team was more like Destiny's Child.

Destiny was in Barton's corner March 7. She banked home an improbable shot at the buzzer from beyond half court to lift the third-seeded Lakers to a shocking 83-82 win over second-seeded Chanhassen at Apple Valley High School.

The Lakers (17-10) will face top-seeded Shakopee (20-8) in the title game March 11 at Apple Valley at 7 p.m. The Sabers knocked off fourth-seeded Chaska 81-68 in the earlier semifinal.

Barton finished with a game-high 27 points. The Lakers blew a 15-point lead in the second half as Chanhassen came storming back. Kate O'Brien hit two free throws with 2.3 seconds left to put the Storm up two.

Barton grabbed the inbounds pass near the left side of the court, took a couple dribbles and heaved up a prayer. It was answered - off the glass. The Lakers followed with a wild celebration.

"In the huddle, our coach said just get the ball to me, take a few dribbles and shoot it," said Barton. "I can't believe it went in. It feels like all the hard work in my basketball career and for our team this season came with that one shot. It was a destiny thing, I guess."

It's not the first time Barton has made a shot from beyond half court to win a game. Last year, in the Lakers' final South Suburban Conference game at Rosemount to end the regular season, Barton made a shot from about 75 feet to beat the Irish 68-67. She spun around and just throw the ball toward the basket like a outfielder hitting the cutoff man.

It's also not the first long-distance buzzer beater in the Section 2AAAA semifinals. In fact, one year ago (March 8) on the same exact floor, in the same basket, Shakopee's Taylor Koenen made a shot from half court to beat Chaska 60-59.

Meanwhile, Prior Lake has never played for a state berth since it became a Class 4A school at the start of the 2003-04 season. The Lakers have won three section crowns in Class 3A (1999, 2002 and 2003).

Shakopee swept the Lakers during SSC play - 75-55 at home back on Dec. 19 and 73-60 on the road Jan. 20. The Lakers go into the final winning six straight and eight of their last nine. The Sabers are 7-2 in their last nine games.

In the semifinals, the Lakers and Storm were tied 32-32 at the break. Prior Lake seized control of the game in the early part of the second half. Barton was making threes, as was sophomores Brooke Glass and Riley Wheatcraft and junior Michelle Lother.

And eighth-grader McKenna Hofschild was the facilitator. The Storm couldn't stop her penetration as she was getting into the lane at will and kicking out to open shooters. She also finished in the lane a couple of times and dished to senior Sam McElwain once for an easy layup.

The Lakers led 65-50 with about 10 minutes to play, before the Storm came all the way back. Chanhassen grabbed its first lead (77-76) since the first half with 1:24 remaining. But Barton answered with a three to put the Lakers up 79-77 with 1:07 to go.

O'Brien put the Storm back in front with a three with 20 seconds to play. Lother was fouled with 13 ticks left. She made 1 of 2 at the stripe to tie the game (80-80), before O'Brien was fouled with 2.3 seconds left, hitting at the time, what looked to be the game-winning free throws.

"We got a good lead and then we started to make some mistakes and had some turnovers," said Barton. "We started to play more tentatively and they were more aggressive, pressuring us."

Wheatcraft finished with 14 points for the Lakers, while Hofschild had 13 and McElwain scored 12. Lother finished with 10 points, while Glass had seven.

Hofschild had five assists in that stretch early in the second half to help the Lakers build their 15-point lead. McElwain was also strong on the boards with 11 rebounds.

To see more photos of the Lakers in the semifinals, go to Scoreboard's Facebook page:https://business.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.974321165926567.1073742384.197190936972931&type=3&business_id=718207758255971.