Ava Smid, a sophomore center for Dallas Center-Grimes, starred in a wild moment with 32 seconds left in regulation. Her team trailed by two points. What happened next defied belief.
Smid hit a layup from a baseline inbound to tie the game. Immediately after, she stole the inbound pass and scored with another layup to give her team the lead.
In 14 seconds, Smid scored four unanswered points, turning a two-point deficit into a two-point lead. Dallas Center-Grimes led for the first time all game, 44-42.
The Mustangs only led for 21 seconds total and they only needed a third of a minute to win the game. They outscored Norwalk 19-11 in the fourth quarter, with Smid scoring eight in the final period.
“I was just guarding,” Smid said after the game, via The Des Moines Register. “You don’t want them to get the ball inbounds, and I was able to get some deflections and some steals.”
The Mustangs will compete for the Class 4A state championship on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.Ava Smid just had the sequence of a lifetime. Two steals. Two layups. One win.
In 14 seconds, she became an Iowa high school basketball legend. And the rest of us were left asking the same question: “Oh my, what just happened?”