7th grader's buzzer-beater sends Haddonfield to ICBL Girls Basketball League championship
HADDONFIELD, N.J. (CBS) -- A Haddonfield seventh-grader sunk a buzzer-beater basketball shot from beyond half-court to propel her team to the championship.
Sara Guveiyian made the shot, which was captured on cellphone video, during Sunday night's semi-final game between Haddonfield and Washington Township in the final four of the 7th- and 8th-grade girls division of the ICBL Girls Basketball League in South Jersey.
The Haddonfield Bulldawgs were down late in the game until her teammate and friend, Quinn Langel, made a 3-point shot to send the game into overtime.
With the score tied 37-37 and less than five seconds to go in overtime, Guveiyian swished a 3-point shot from beyond half-court to give Haddonfield a 40-37 victory.
"My friend was right here guarding the best girl on the team, and she like poked it to me. I grabbed it. I kinda lost control of it, but I kept it. I picked up here, thinking I couldn't shoot it. The girl knocked it out of my hands. I was driving," she said. "I just chucked it up and shot it."
"I was just happy and surprised and grateful that it went in," she said.
"I knew it was going to be a big day," said Sarah's former teacher Maya Argano, who recorded the game winning shot on her phone.
"I actually had tears in my eyes, but that's not like far off for me. I was super, super proud. I knew that was a once in a lifetime moment," Argano said.
A moment Guveiyian said she will cherish not for the individual glory, but because of what her team accomplished.
"Our team pushed hard and worked back on defense to be able to get the ball and shoot it," she said.
The Haddonfield Bulldawgs will be playing in the league championship game this Sunday.
