A wild thrill ride

A 41-28 lead had turned into a 45-43 deficit and New Hampton’s girls basketball season was on the brink of extinction Saturday night.  Yet, the Chickasaws were still supremely confident that their season was going to be extended another day.  “I don’t know, I didn’t even realize we were behind,” junior Isabel Leichtman said. “We weren’t playing that great, but we were still playing hard and we still had a good vibe.”  And that good vibe carried the Chickasaws to a 61-53 victory over North Fayette Valley in a Class 3A regional quarterfinal game.  “I will say this: Our girls showed they could overcome adversity,” New Hampton coach Matt Schult said. “It wasn’t a lot of fun to go through, but what I liked about that situation is that we responded. We didn’t hang our heads and quit; we kind of said, ‘OK, let’s do this.’ And they did.”  For a good long while, it looked like New Hampton was going to cruise to the win as the Chickasaws had five players score in the first four minutes on its way to a 19-12 lead.  More on the story may be found in the Feb. 14 Tribune.