‘Rubber Chicken’: Kayla Jones leads young Ferris girls squad over Lewis and Clark; Ferris boys hold off LC

Lewis and Clark and rival Ferris have been fighting over a rubber chicken named “Chuck” for 40 years. As ridiculous as that might sound, all of the participants Wednesday in the city’s oldest spirit game at the Arena – players, coaches, student bodies, teachers and administrators – could not have been more “fired up,” to borrow from a popular cheer.

The schools came into the 41st edition of the rivalry between the Greater Spokane League foes fairly evenly matched in the win/loss columns for the season, and all square in the spirit competition, each with 20 wins since 1983.

Snapping a two-year drought, Ferris reclaimed Chuck for a return to the South Hill. 

In the girls game, Ferris erased an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, then kept the advantage in the extra session. Junior guard Kayla Jones finished with 35 points, six in overtime, and the Saxons (7-5) edged the Tigers (7-6) 67-63.

“That was just incredible,” Jones said. “That’s my third rubber chicken and it’s just, it’s amazing. I mean, sometimes I can’t even hear myself and I’m losing my voice. And just, a game like that that goes to overtime – it’s so close. The feeling when we won was incredible.”

Ferris first-year coach Courtney Gray was an assistant coach on last year’s Ferris team.

“I kind of got to experience (Rubber Chicken),” she said. “But being the head coach, taking on that responsibility is a totally different situation.”

With no seniors at her disposal, Gray told her team to keep things simple on the big stage of the Arena.

“I told them just to dig deep, focus on what we’ve been working on the last couple of weeks in practice and play tight defense,” she said.

“You just got to tell them to not get frustrated, that we’re all learning, and we just got to keep pushing through it,” Jones said.

Jones hit a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left in OT to put Ferris up 63-59. LC forced a turnover, but Ruby Shaw was called for her fifth foul on the floor and Jones made 1 of 2 at the line. An LC miss led to a pair of Elyse Wevers free throws to make it a six-point lead with 30 seconds left.

“Coming into the season, knowing that we had a younger team, I knew we had a lot to work on, a lot to develop with everyone as a team,” Gray said. “And they’re starting to put things together and capitalize with what we’re asking them to do.”

LC took an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter but went cold as Ferris scored the first six points of the period to narrow the gap. Saxons forward Mateia Eschenbacher (12 points) nailed a long 3 and made 1 of 2 at the line to make it a one-point game with 3 minutes left.

Grace Walsh made two at the line to give Ferris its first lead since early in the third quarter, 48-47 with 2:09 to go, and the sophomore hit 1 of 2 to make it a two-point game with 40.1 seconds left.

Shaw (15 points) grabbed an offensive board and made the layup but missed the free throw to leave it tied at 51 with 13.7 to go.

Jones took the ball at midcourt, dribbled through the defense and made a scooping layup with 6 seconds left to give the Saxons the lead. The inbound play allowed LC freshman Lindsey Zimmerman to race up the floor and her layup at the buzzer forced overtime.

“(Jones) stepped it up when we asked her to. They all did,” Gray said. “It was nice to see them all do what we’re asking, stepping it up when we need it most.”

Jones hit a couple of 3-pointers early for Ferris, Sadie Pierce answered with five points off the bench for LC, and it was tied at 14 after fast-paced first quarter.

“I was actually really nervous coming into this game because I hadn’t been shooting well in the past couple games,” Jones said. “So, to hit those first few 3s in the like first quarter kind of got me going.”

LC’s Olivia Baird hit a couple of runners at the start of the second quarter to put the Tigers up by four. But Jones drained 3s on back-to-back possessions, and Ferris led 28-23 at the half with Jones going for 15 points.

The Tigers opened the second half with a 14-4 run to take a 37-32 lead, with Cassidy Lage hitting two 3-pointers. Zimmerman hit from distance near the end of the quarter and LC led 44-36 after three.

Boys

Ferris 49, Lewis and Clark 48: Dylan Skaife scored 23 points, including six consecutive free throws in the fourth quarter, and the Saxons (5-8) built an 11-point lead in the fourth and held off the Tigers (8-5) in the late game.

“It’s Rubber Chicken, you can’t get bigger than that,” Skaife said. 

“It’s a really big win,” Ferris coach Sean Mallon said. “This game always means a little bit more than just one, you know what I mean? Because of the pressure that these kids are under, and they’ve heard all week about it at school. We weren’t playing great ball, we’ve been playing better of late but for us to get this one, really good one our kids.”

Luke Roland added 10 points for Ferris. Parker Pincock led LC with 23 points and Luke Jessop had 12. 

“Roland was just huge tonight with his energy,” Mallon said. “He’s battled some health and injuries this year. But I mean, he was the deciding factor in this game. He was all over the (offensive) boards. He shot with confidence. That was a great, great game for Luke.”

A slow start for both saw LC lead 9-5 after one quarter. Skaife hit two from long distance then a layup to give Ferris its first lead with 2 minutes left in the half. Skaife hit a 30-footer just before the horn and Ferris led 23-19 at the half.

Ferris guard Sam Markham hit a 3 late in the third quarter and the Saxons led 35-25 entering the fourth.

The lead grew to 44-33 midway through the fourth, but Pincock got hot, hitting a couple 3s to pull LC within two with 40 seconds to go. Skaife made a pair at the line, and Pincock hit another 3 with 2.2 seconds left. Ferris got the ball in quickly, Skaife tapped it safely downcourt and LC didn’t get another chance. 

“(LC is) a good basketball team,” Skaife said. “Parker Pincock got hot at the end, but we just stayed as a team. We’ve been preparing for this all week. This was the main focus. We just wanted to win this game.”