Gsl Pushed Out Of The Picture Shadle Park, Mead Girls Find Out What It’s Like To Suffer First-Round Losses At State Aaa Tournament

Mead may have played for the championship three days early, but no matter what happens during the rest of the girls State AAA basketball tournament at the Kingdome, the best the Panthers can hope for is fifth place.

Mead took top-ranked Prairie to the wire Wednesday morning before falling 47-44 in the opening round of the state tournament, meaning the Panthers’ run of five straight top-four finishes is over.

In the next game, Shadle Park buried itself in a dismal 14-2 first-quarter hole, losing 49-46 to No. 5 KentMeridian.

“I don’t think it hurt the Greater Spokane League’s reputation,” Shadle Park coach Linda Sheridan said. “We played two of the top five teams in close games. (The bracket) is tough. It’s what everybody thought going in. Mead and us are both good teams, and neither of us have a chance to be in there. But we lost - I’m not whining.”

GSL girls have won 13 top-four trophies in the previous seven state tournaments. Now, if Mead and Shadle Park manage to win loser-out games today - Mead at 9 a.m. against Olympic, Shadle Park at 10:30 against Rogers of Puyallup - they’ll meet Friday morning at 10:30 for the chance to play for the fifth- and eighth-place trophies.

“Shadle Park and Mead are good,” Kent-Meridian coach Derek Brown said. “These were great games. They should have been semifinal and final games.”

Prairie 47, Mead 44

The third-ranked Panthers (22-4) made the defensive stand they needed, but the Falcons (23-0) were rescued by one of the more unlikely of sources.

Forward Kelly Bradstreet received a pass at the topright section of the key with the shot clock clicking below 5 seconds, and buried a 3-pointer for the final basket of the game with 21 seconds left.

Mead’s plan for a final basket fell apart. The Panthers turned the ball over underneath as time ran out.

“That was a great defensive series, but when the shot clock got down to 5 seconds, we didn’t rotate,” Mead coach Jeanne Helfer said. “She still had to hit a big shot. We were supposed to get Stacy (Clinesmith) a 3-point look, but not from the NBA line. Stacy got a little anxious and we didn’t execute.”

“We were running our delay and going to get something wide open,” Prairie coach Al Aldridge said. “Fortunately, it was Kelly’s time. It’s hard to defend the inside stuff and not give up that look.”

Jodi Cody’s 3 from the right wing with 52 seconds left tied it as Mead rallied from six down with 3 minutes left.

The Panthers used a 13-5 rebounding edge in the second quarter to go up 23-18 at halftime. They led 30-23 early in the third quarter before Prairie went on a 13-0 run to take control.

“I thought the pressure got to them in the first half, which surprised me, so we were more aggressive in the second half,” Helfer said. “They got more patient and settled down. Then we couldn’t get in sync on offense. Sometimes you have to credit the defense.”

The Panthers shut down the Falcons for the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, but only got four points to close within 40-38 because they had turnovers on five straight possessions.

The Panthers still scored more than the 36 points Prairie usually allows and held the Falcons well below their 69-point average. In the end, 20 turnovers and hitting just 10 of 18 free throws was the difference.

Prairie 47, Mead 10

Mead 9 14 11 10 -44 Prairie 10 8 22 7 -47

MEAD Beatty 0 1-2 1, C.Clark 1 0-0 2, Cory 2 0-0 5, Turner 1 0-0 2, Clinesmith 5 3-4 14, Benad 0 2-4 2, Roberts 1 0-0 2, J. Clark 4 0-0 8, Bennett 2 4-8 8. Totals 16-45 10-18 44. PRAIRIE Moss 2 2-2 7, Spence 1 0-0 2, Rosales 2 0-0 4, Dettorre 2 3- 4 7, Maylone 0 0-0 0, Ard 0 0-0 0, Elder 0 0-0 0, Curtis 7 2-2 16, Adkins 0 0-0 0, Bradstreet 4 2-2 11. Totals 18-50 9-10 47.

3-point goals - Cory, Clinesmith, Moss, Bradstreet. Total fouls - M 11, P 12. Fouled out - none.

Kent-Meridan 49, Shadle 46

The No. 6 Highlanders (22-5) missed all 12 shots in the first quarter and didn’t get a basket until 2 minutes into the second, when the Royals (23-3) leading 18-3. Then Kelly Bartleson, 0 for 15 from the field, started finding open teammates under the basket as Shadle closed to within 27-20 at the half.

The Royals pushed the lead to 42-27 entering the fourth quarter before the Highlanders eventually rallied with 14 straight points to get to within 42-41 with 4:17 remaining.

But three straight turnovers allowed the Royals to go ahead 46-41, Benishe Dillard making a basket and assisting on another.

But the Highlanders kept coming.

“When our young kids were in, they jumped into a press, and before we got them out they had scored eight points on us,” Powell said. “Our kids weren’t being strong with the ball and I thought they were getting away with a lot of contact. I called timeout and told them to be stronger with the ball. Once we did, we started to execute.”

K-M only hit 7 of 17 free throws, but Marcella Doxee made two with 26 seconds left for the final margin.

Shadle converted just 11 of 41 shots (27 percent), coupled with 23 turnover. It hit 23 of 27 free throws to pressure the Royals.

“We couldn’t get one of Kelly’s shots to fall to save our lives,” Sheridan said. “We did some good things. We played hard - we just didn’t make shots. Kelly couldn’t get untracked, and when Kelly scores the other kids settle down. We ended up having some kids do some things they’re not used to.

Shadle Park 2 18 7 19 - 46 Kent-Meridian 14 13 15 7 -49

SHADLE PARK K.Miller 0 3-4 3, Pilkington 4 4-6 12, Heimbigner 2 2- 2 7, Clary 0 2-2 2, T.Miller 0 0-0 0, Bartleson 0 8-8 8, Rainer 5 4-5 14, Short 0 0-0 0. Totals 11-41 23-27 46.

KENT-MERIDIAN Moser 0 0-0 0, Guillen 0 0-0 0, Garrett 0 1-2 1, Doxsee 2 3-7 9, Thomas 3 0-0 6, Deal 4 0-0 8, Dillard 4 1-3 9, Naval 5 1-2 11, Bakke 0 0-0 0, Williams 2 1-2 5, Bigford 0 0-0 0. Totals 20-48 7-17 49.

3-point goals - Heimbigner, Doxee 2. Total fouls - SP 18, K-M 17. Fouled out - Williams.