Wilbur-Creston Hangs On Arden’s Free Throws Enable Wildcats To Edge Nighthawks In First-Round Thriller

The game that was almost over before it began almost never ended.

Second-ranked Tekoa-Oakesdale, which fell behind 16-0 in the first quarter, missed three shots in the final 12 seconds and third-ranked Wilbur-Creston escaped with a wild 42-40 victory to cap the opening round of the girls State B basketball tournament at the Arena on Wednesday night.

The winning points came with 22 seconds left when Lisa Arden made two free throws to break just the second tie of the game.

“It just shows at gut-check time these kids went out and got the job done,” jubilant Wilbur-Creston coach Steve Jantz said. “Tekoa-Oakesdale is a great club.”

The Wildcats had won an early season game by two with a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left.

Arden finished with a career-high 25 points, hitting five 3-pointers, the second most by an individual in tournament history, and grabbed nine rebounds.

Tekoa-Oakesdale had tied the game for the first time at 38 when Sally Palmer made two free throws with 1:42 remaining.

The Hawks, who made a big defensive stop by forcing the shot clock to run out on W-C’s previous possession, got the clock down to 3 when the ball went out of bounds. However, on the in-bounds play, Alyssa Erickson got the ball at the baseline and beat the buzzer to put the Wildcats back on top with 1:11 left.

The Nighthawks came back to tie with 50 seconds left when Miranda Brown made two free throws.

Wilbur-Creston then turned the ball over with 42 seconds left, but 15 seconds later T-O missed a shot and Arden was fouled.

Arden’s two free throws only made the Wildcats 10 of 20, which almost cost them because the Nighthawks rarely missed, hitting 14 of 18.

An 8-0 run in the third quarter got T-O back in the game, closing the gap to 27-24. The Nighthawks did that despite a technical foul on coach Mark Stinson after the deficit was cut to five. However, the Wildcats missed both free throws, missed two shots on the ensuing possession and Heather Cox scored on a putback for T-O.

Arden opened the game with a 3, added two more and scored 11 points as the Wildcats shocked the Nighthawks by racing to the 16-0 lead.

“Our first time at state and we just looked around,” Stinson said.

Tekoa-Oakesdale got on the board when Cox, who led the Nighthawks with 15 points and nine rebounds, converted a putback with 6:04 gone. Christa Graffis hit a 3 from the left corner for T-O a minute before the quarter ended.

When Cox opened the second quarter with a basket, the deficit was under 10. But Tekoa-Oakesdale seemed to be rushing to catch up, forcing the offense, and trailed 23-12 at the half.

Arden had 15 points while T-O had 11 turnovers and made just 5 of 19 shots (26 percent).

In the other top-five matchup, No. 5 Clallam Bay shut down top-ranked Wishkah Valley 47-30 by taking away the Loggers’ inside game.

Although Mindy McElliott had 21 points and 16 rebounds for WV, the Loggers probably gave more than that away trying to get the 6-foot senior the ball, thanks to the man-to-man defense of 5-8 Casey Soeneke. Soeneke also contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds. McElliott entered the game with a 23-point average, Soeneke 25.

The other key matchup was 5-11 Deborah Sangel on 6-2 Abbie Pierce. Pierce, who averages 18 points, fouled out with six points and 10 rebounds. Sangel had 16 points and seven rebounds.

“We have some kids we believe can play man defense, and they showed it tonight,” CB coach Mike Jannausch said. “Wishkah is not an overly quick team and that allowed us to do some things defensively. The matchup was the thing. We don’t match up that well against every team, but we do against this one.”

The teams played in January with the Loggers rolling to a 57-45 win.

“They did that when we played them in January,” Wishkah Valley coach Rick McDougall said. “Not to take anything away from Clallam Bay, because they did a good job, but we just stood there. Occasionally, I think we even applauded for them.

“They have some good athletes … . In January, we went right after them.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: STATE B RADIO BROADCASTS 9: Girls, Mossyrock vs. Summit (KKPL 630). 9: Boys, Toutle Lake vs. Clallam Bay (KTRW 970). 10:30: Girls, Watson Groen Christian vs. Northport (KKPL 630). 10:30: Boys, Willapa Valley vs. Tacoma Baptist (KTRW 970). Noon: Girls, King’s West vs. Toutle Lake (KKPL 630). Noon: Boys, Rainier vs. Trout Lake (KTRW 970). 1:30: Girls, Wishkah Valley vs. Tekoa-Oakesdale (KKPL 630). 1:30: Boys, Orcas Island vs. LaCrosse-Washtucna (KTRW 970). 5: Girls, Kittitas vs. St. John-Endicott (KTRW 970). 5: Boys, Darrington vs. ACH (KGA 1510). 6:30: Girls, Ritzville vs. Rainier (KTRW 970). 6:30: Boys, Manson vs. Republic (KGA 1510). 8: Girls, Pateros vs. Reardan (KTRW 970). 8: Boys, Reardan vs. Wtrville (KGA 1510). 9:30: Girls, Clallam Bay vs. Wilbur-Creston (KTRW 970). 9:30: Boys, N.B. vs. Ritzville (KGA 1510).