But the Patriots trailed by seven with seven minutes to play, and Lickliter was the one player who could create her own shot. In a low-scoring game, seven points looked like a big lead. Something had to change.
“When they tell me to go, it’s clutch time,” Lickliter said. “So I knew I had to get to the basket if we wanted to win.”
Lickliter, the fastest player on the floor, scored Carroll’s final six points in regulation to force overtime, and the Patriots won going away 42-33 in Greater Catholic League Co-Ed play.
“She gets to the hoop so well and under control, which really makes it tough,” Alter coach Chris Hart said. “She’s hard to contain.”
Lickliter, who scored a career-high 20 points, cut Alter’s lead to 30-27 with a driving layup. She added a free throw a couple minutes later after being fouled on a drive. With 1:32 left she drove, scored and added a free throw to tie the Knights 31-31, forcing overtime.
“We were calling plays to clear things out for her so she could take the girl one on one,” Grosselin said. “Ava’s such a strong guard when she goes to the basket, and she’s fast. She’s hard to stop.”
Carroll (11-3, 9-2 GCL) won the overtime period 11-2. Sarah Ochs, who finished with 11 points, and Sydney Franklin made the team’s only 3-pointers to jump to a 37-33 lead.
“Usually me and Sarah have a good connection,” Lickliter said. “So when she put one in, I went up and high-fived her and said, ‘Let’s go.’ And when Sydney hit hers it was ‘We got this.’”
Alter (10-8, 6-6) didn’t trail until overtime. The Knights were outscored 19-3 after taking a 30-23 lead with 7:34 left in regulation on Emma Hansley’s 3-pointer. Hart saw more than one reason for why the game shifted to Carroll’s favor.
“Their experience I would say and their senior leadership,” she said. “And we kind of panicked a little bit on offense and stopped getting good shots. We started to try to create on our own rather than play together, and that really hurts.”
The teams know each other so well that defense usually dominates the game as it did Wednesday. Both teams switched up defenses from man-to-man to zones and double-teams and a little full-court pressure.
“You really have to work hard to get a good look for either team,” Hart said.
Carroll is also a different kind of offensive team this year. The Patriots reached the Division II final four the past two years with 6-foot Julia Keller able to dominate inside. This year the Patriots don’t have that go-to player near the basket.
“We definitely have to share the ball a lot more,” Lickliter said. “If we want to get it inside, we don’t have a big who’s right there, easy one pass. We have to swing the ball around a couple times before we can enter it. And you have to be able to play every position. The high scorer could be someone different every game.”
Against Alter, it was Lickliter’s turn.
About the Author