NY Yankee great Yogi Berra is credited with this one –

Deja Vu All Over Again

(2-14-17) Twenty-six years ago in an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) girls basketball regional in Bellefontaine, Celina, who was unranked, upset nationally ranked Pickerington 48-46 on an incredible buzzer beater.  Bulldog guard Jill Froning threw up a shot way behind the arc for the game winner.  The Celebration started, it was one of the greatest sports moments in Celina sports history. Celina would go on to win the State Title in Columbus the next weekend.

Last night in Illinois Alex Kantecki of McHenry County Sports shared on Twitter  KC Davids’ buzzer beating game winner  over Marian Central   ( IHSA Class 3A Richmond-Burton Regional semifinal) to give Richmond-Burton a 53-51 win over Marian Central.

Davids told Kantecki after the game:

“My coach on the sideline said, ‘You’ve got two seconds. I don’t know … it’s really unbelievable. Our team just never gave up. The fight was always there.”

 

It is amazing how much those game-winning shots mirror each other.

Some Deja Vu-

  • Both teams trailed by one point
  • both teams had under four seconds to go the entire distance of the floor
  • shots were in the identical spot
  • both were tournament games
  • celebrations broke out at mid-court
  • a memory that will last a life-time

Jill (Froning) Ballard told Century 21 Master Key Realty:

“Every time someone realizes who I am, people still talk about ‘the shot.’ Being the only team to win a state title from Celina hit home more when I got older, then when I was actually a Senior (1991). In High School it was cool, in college you try and separate yourself from who you were, but when you get older you realize that was quite an accomplishment. You appreciate it more.”

KC Davids and Jill Froning don’t know each other, but now they share the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the memory of a game winning shot. Someday Davids and her teammates will appreciate the ‘shot’ a little more as they look back, just like Froning does now.

Thanks to Carey Poor Walley for use of Jill Froning picture

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