Shadle Park girls continue surge

The Redemption Tour continues for the Shadle Park girls basketball team. After going 5-4 in the first half of the Greater Spokane League schedule, Shadle Park registered its most impressive win to date Tuesday, rallying for a 58-52 decision over the visiting Gonzaga Prep Bullpups. “Like coach (Chad Dezellem) is saying, this is our Redemption Tour,” Highlanders standout senior wing Aleisha Hathaway said. “We weren’t playing basketball at the beginning of the season. We’re playing our best basketball now.” The win moved Shadle (8-6 overall, 7-5 league) into a three-way tie for fourth place with Lewis and Clark and Mead. The loss dropped the Bullpups (10-4, 8-4) out of a tie for second with University. It appeared G-Prep might send the Highlanders to another close loss when the Bullpups used an 8-0 spurt for a 50-43 lead with 5:04 remaining. But Shadle responded with an 8-0 surge, capped off when junior Morgan Grier drove baseline for a basket to put the Highlanders ahead at 51-50. G-Prep took its final lead at 52-51 when freshman Laura Stockton got a putback at the 2:18 mark. The Bullpups didn’t score again as the Highlanders finished with a 7-0 spurt. “I didn’t think we were going to lose this game,” Hathaway said about falling behind 50-43. “I was telling them (her teammates) the whole time, ‘We’re not going to lose this game.’” Sophomore reserve guard Winter Hayes made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 28 seconds to preserve the win. She scored all eight of her points in the fourth quarter. It was part of a balanced offense for Shadle. Hathaway led with 14 and Grier, Kaycee Hert and Paige Reidt had 10 apiece. “Winter knocked down those key free throws,” Hathaway said. “I was real proud of her. She’s stepping up.” The Highlanders had a strong rebounding game, too. G-Prep abused Shadle on the boards in the first meeting between the teams in December. Hathaway and Grier had seven rebounds apiece and Hayes added five. Hathaway also had three steals and three assists. “I was really pleased with our defensive intensity,” Dezellem said. “We’ve been playing good defense in spurts. They’re starting to understand that to play winning basketball you have to do the little things right.” Madison Wright led G-Prep with 15 points and seven rebounds. “We just didn’t compete on defense, which is really uncharacteristic of us,” G-Prep coach Mike Arte said. “They played with more of a sense of urgency those last 5 minutes than we did. My hat is off to them. They came after us on offense.” University 56, Lewis and Clark 45: The Titans (11-3, 9-3) took over sole possession of second by making 15 of 19 free throws in the final quarter to hold off the visiting Tigers (7-7, 7-5). LC got within 46-42 before the Titans scored their final 10 points from the foul line. Hallie Gennett led U-Hi with a game-high 26 points. Teammate Taylor Berdar had 10 rebounds and Lexi Clark had five assists and four steals. LC’s Joelle Tampien had a career-high 15 points to go with three assists. Central Valley 57, Mt. Spokane 35: The league-leading Bears (14-0, 12-0) took care of the ball and in so doing took care of the visiting Wildcats (4-10, 3-9). Katie Estey led CV with 14 points and Madison Hovren had 13 and seven rebounds. Alyssa Lloyd and Jalyn Vigil each had nine for the Wildcats. Ferris 64, North Central 52: The Indians (4-10, 4-8) opened a 15-9 lead, but the Saxons (5-9, 3-9) outscored NC 25-13 in the second to take control at Ferris. Abby Liss led Ferris with 17 points and eight rebounds. Brittney Johnson had 16 points and five steals. Hailey Markham-Patti led NC with 25 points and six rebounds and Brianna King added 13 points. Mead 66, Rogers 31: The Panthers (7-7, 7-5) zipped to a 43-15 lead in the first half at Mead. Freshman Sue Winger led the balanced Panthers with 13 points, Jade Redmon had 12 and Jasmine Parker had 11. Jasmin Andrews scored 21 of the Pirates’ 31 points.