Two reasons caused her sudden depression.

One, her suddenly inspired Hornets had fallen to C.D. Owen in the first round of the Section 3, West 2A Sectional game 54-51.

Two, it had finally hit her. She would never coach Sherree Gillespie again.

Gillespie did all she could to keep the Central Carolina Conference’s fourth seed in the game with 18-9 Owen. She scored 28 points on 12-of-17 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds.

And it was Gillespie who heaved a 40-footer toward the goal at the final buzzer. Her effort to force overtime banged off the glass, ending one of the most illustrious careers in Salisbury girls history.

“How do you sum up something like that?” said Shoaf, fighting back tears when asked about Gillespie’s career. “She has been our horse. That will be a hard 20-point average to replace.”

Those points might come from freshman Jamie Seay, who proved Monday night that she is not afraid to put it up. Shoaf put her in with a minute left and the Hornets trailing 49-46. She immediately drained a long 3-pointer to tie it.

“I’m glad she took that shot,” Shoaf said. “As a freshman, I don’t know if I’d have guts to do it. But that’s the kind of kid she is. She has all the confidence in the world.”

Owen coach Tim Raines, who had watched his Western Highland Conference second seed struggle most of the night against the quick Hornet hands, decided to pull the ball out and stall for one shot. That’s when Shoaf told her players to foul.

Her team chose senior point guard Ashley Schnepp, who hit one of two for a 50-49 lead with 36.8 seconds left.

“When I saw them holding the ball, I didn’t want it to come down to one shot,” Shoaf explained of her strategy, noting that the Warlassies were just 2-of-6 from the line in the fourth period. “I’m thinking maybe this isn’t a bad situation.”

Raines said he was very surprised.

“I thought they’d make us take the last shot,” he said. “I guess that was a gamble on her part that we’d miss. But (Schnepp) is not the one you want to foul. She’s pretty good. She’s won two games for us in those circumstances.”

Schnepp hit just one, giving Salisbury a chance for its first lead since early in the second period.

The Hornets raced downcourt and Tiffany Robinson, Gillespie’s fellow senior, took the shot from the foul line. It bounced all over the rim before falling off. Ann Marie Gardner was fouled and hit two free throws for a 52-49 Owen lead with 18 seconds remaining. Gillespie scored with eight ticks left, forcing another foul situation. Again Schnepp hit one-of-two. But the clock showed just 4.1 left.

Gillespie then got the ball at halfcourt, took a couple of dribbles and let fly. It just missed.

Raines was holding his breath when he saw Gillespie catch the ball. He had been flabbergasted by his team’s lack of a killer instinct and expected the worse.

“That Gillespie kid is a player,” he whewed. “But at this time of the year, you just survive and advance. That’s all that counts.”

Raines thought his team was putting Salisbury (7-17) away late in the first half. It was the same old same old for the Hornets — Gillespie was being aggressive but was receiving little help from her teammates. Meanwhile, the Warlassies were stroking five 3-pointers, three by Schnepp, to take a 32-23 lead at halftime.

“We weren’t mentally in it,” Shoaf said. “I think we were tired because of the (two-hour) bus ride.”

Salisbury scored the first seven points of the second half, five by Gillespie. Jenny Reilly drilled two free throws and it was 32-30.

When Keke Chunn hit a fast break layup, Shoaf had seen her team finally tied the score at 42.

This is where the Hornets may have lost the game. They had two straight chances to take the lead but missed one shot and turned it over on the next. In fact, they committed three more turnovers, allowing Owen to go up by five. Two Gillespie baskets set up Seay for the big 3 in the frantic minute.

If it was any consolation, Shoaf saw her team play its best ball in the final two weeks. This was a team that started the season 0-9 and still made the playoffs.

“It was like we were a new team,” she said.

Next year, without Gillespie, it really will be.

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NOTES: Owen goes to 22-3 Lincolnton Wednesday. ... Owen was 20-of-32 from the line. Salisbury was 4-of-9.

SALISBURY (51) — Gillespie 28, Chunn 10, Reilly 6, Charleston 4, Seay 3, Atkinson, Taylor, Robinson.

C.D. OWEN (54) — Schnepp 15, Gardner 13, Hilbert 12, Lindquist 5, Swann 3, Farrar 3, Burpeau 2, Padgett 1.

Salisbury 9 14 15 13 — 51