Hayden Craddock’s game-winner for Stratford sinks Piedmont as Eaglettes win key bout 70-68

It’s usually not ideal when the officials don’t hear you call a timeout — after all, a coach only gets so many chances to halt momentum and draw up plays for their team.

For Stratford head coach Ed Smith and the Eaglettes, though, it was an unexpected stroke of luck.

“I wanted a timeout, they didn’t give me one,” Smith said. “Once the ball got to halfcourt, we were calling it as hard as we could.”

No timeout was forthcoming. What was forthcoming was Hayden Craddock’s only bucket of the night, a buzzer-beating, nothing-but-net 3-pointer from the right wing to give Stratford a 70-68 win over Piedmont in a GIAA District 6-4A/3A showdown.

Piedmont fell to 19-4 and 7-1 after its first loss since Dec. 28, a 59-52 defeat against Edmund Burke. Stratford improved to 18-2.

Craddock, who had a career high 14 points in Stratford’s 62-55 loss to Piedmont on Jan. 14, rendered the lack of communication and planning moot.

“I didn’t really shoot that much,” Craddock said. “I was more worried about playing defense because we knew No. 10 (Marissa Holder) was a really good ball-handler and they had some others that were really good at shooting.”

Before the buzzer-beater, Camiyah Hudson put back a miss by Craddock to tie it before Holder made one of two free throws to give Piedmont a 68-67 lead with 18 seconds left.

A jump ball gave Stratford possession with 9.9 seconds left. After Holder was fouled but missed shots from the charity stripe, Hudson pushed the ball downcourt, drawing attention while Craddock stood alone near the corner ready to catch and shoot.

“I was in a good position to shoot,” Craddock said. “I just happened to be open, like, wide open, so I had to take the shot.”

Just like Smith might have planned — if he had gotten the chance. But his request for a timeout wasn’t heeded by officials, and the rest was history. 

Being ignored under those circumstances brought back a memory for Smith.

“My first or second year of coaching, same thing happened,” he said. “I was at Briarwood, we were playing Brentwood. I was trying to call a timeout. The point guard drove the lane, won the game.”

Another time, with his team knowing he wanted a timeout, the plan to inbound to halfcourt and call timeout went awry when an Eaglette got the pass with an unexpected clean road to the basket.

“She had a straight line layup,” Smith said. “Guess what she did. She stopped to call timeout.”

Odds were against Stratford much of the night, thanks as much to the Eaglettes as to Piedmont’s aggressive scoring offense.

Holder, Kylee Keck and Sarah Ellen Stroud team to average 42.8 points a game, 27.5 coming from Holder, who is in her fifth season of hitting lower-classification teams with her heady play and ability to score in any fashion.

Stroud took scoring honors with 30 points, 18 coming on 3-pointers. Keck went for 20 points, 18 on 3-pointers.

Holder was good for 18 points, making only two threes.

“They have probably the top three offensive players that we’ll see,” Smith said. “You can see one, maybe two, but they’ve got three. That’s just difficult.”

Stratford kept clawing, and Piedmont couldn’t take much advantage of anything and pull away. The Cougars led 19-17 after one quarter and 35-27 at halftime, with Stratford missing four free throws two seconds apart in the final 16 seconds. That came after a 28-27 lead evaporated amid seven straight scoreless possessions.

The drought found Piedmont next, which started the third quarter coming up empty on eight consecutive trips, Stratford tying it at 35 only for Piedmont to break the slump with a fast-break layup from Stroud.

The Cougars closed the third quarter with an 11-6 run, getting a layup with a second left from Stroud right after Stratford’s Katherine Causey scored low.

Piedmont opened the fourth with a nine-point lead, and that was the margin when Stratford embarked on an 11-2 surge, all from guard Hudson and post Kaliyah Walker.

A 3-pointer from Stroud with 1:25 left gave Piedmont a 65-61 lead, answering Hudson’s bucket in the lane, and seeming to give Piedmont slight control.

Hudson hit two free throws, and Dalaila Lowe’s steal was converted to two more from Hudson to tie it at 65 for three seconds before Holder’s two free throws.

The loss ended Piedmont’s 11-game winning streak.

Holder is about a game away from 2,800 points for her career, and will likely enter the district tournament with 1,400  rebounds and more than 675 assists.

Smith had a simple plan to slow Holder down to only her fifth game below 20 points this season.

“Pray,” he said.

Holder was a little off, but Stroud and Keck were a lot on, teaming for 12 3-pointers, four times as many as the Eaglettes.

Stratford, though, had the biggest bomb of the night, thanks in large part to Hudson’s fourth quarter.

The senior guard went off for 14 of her team-high 22 points, and came up with assorted plays on the glass and on defense as the Eaglettes responded to a few visits with a red-faced Smith with a strong finish.