Griffin’s Buzzer-Beater Lifts Saline Past Grass Lake

Saline’s Hadley Griffin offensive rebound putback at the buzzer kept the  Saline girls’ basketball team perfect on the season with a barn-burning 40-38 win over a talented Grass Lake team Friday night.

Griffin grabbed a loose ball from a missed three-pointer with two seconds left and made a quick step to her left and lofted a lefthanded floater that went through the net as the buzzer sounded sending the Hornets team on the floor in celebration.

With senior point guard Kate Stemmer sitting with foul trouble for a lot of the night, Griffin came up huge for the Hornets with a pair of triples and the game winner that helped rally the Hornets to victory.

“Hadley played point guard when Kate went out and handled it with real poise,” Coach Leigh Ann Roehm said. “She made 2 big 3's that kept us in it. Then, on the last possession, she got an offensive rebound and had the presence of mind to know the time and score. She stayed poised, got to the rim and calmly sank a floater as time expired.”

Grass Lake came out quickly with a 7-0 run to start the game and the Hornets battled to try to catch up for most of the night.

The Hornets trailed 25-18 at the break and tried to chip away at the lead by outscoring the Warriors 11-9 in the third to cut the lead to 34-29 after three.

Griffin hit a triple to start the fourth to get Saline within two 34-32 and Keira Roehm followed with a triple of her own to put the Hornets up 35-34.

Grass Lake retook the lead 36-35 with a fast break lay-in and another Warrior break pushed the lead to 38-35.

Stemmer then hit a triple to tie the game at 38 but would foul out with two minutes remaining to set up Griffin’s late game heroics.

The Saline defense held Grass Lake to just 13 points in the second half, including just four in the final quarter which as huge in the rally.

Keira Roehm led the Hornets with 13 points and four rebounds, while Stemmer finished with 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists.

Griffin had a big night with eight points, three rebounds, two steals, and two assists, Kadyn Maida five points and five rebounds, while Grace Roth added three points and three rebounds.

The win moved the Hornets to 6-0 overall on the season.

Saline defeated Novi 50-40 earlier in the week.

Roehm had a big game with 16 points and five rebounds, while Maida was huge for the Hornets with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

Griffin had another nice game with nine points, two rebounds, and two assists, Stemmer eight points, six assists, and five rebounds, Bailey Burt three points, and Ayla Stager two points and two rebounds.