Saxons Feeling Silly After Win Free Throws Down The Stretch Help Ferris Win Opener At Regionals

At times during Tuesday night’s Lamb Weston AAA girls’ Eastern Regional Championships at Gonzaga University, Ferris coach Janet Wolkey could have used a Silly Sack to hide her eyes.

But following the Saxons’ 44-41 victory over Walla Walla, the Big Nine’s No. 3 seed, she may have been dancing in her Silly Sack along with the Saxon spirit squad.

“That was an ugly ball game,” Wolkey said. “They talk about how experience helps. It’s nice to get an ugly win like that, but we’ll let that be our experience (with ugly wins).”

The win kept the Saxons in the winner’s bracket and put them one win away from a state berth.

Also at GU’s Martin Centre, Shadle Park (20-3) was too much for Pasco (13-10), downing the Bulldogs 70-31 to join Ferris (19-5) in the winner’s bracket.

Kamiakin (20-3) overwhelmed Central Valley 43-25 at Kamiakin and Mead (21-2) downed Wenatchee 47-31 on the road to round out the opening round of the double elimination tournament.

Ferris 44, Walla Walla 41

Were it not for some clutch foul shooting by point guard Jayme Morrisette and offguard Emily Ireland, Ferris’ first trip to the regional tournament might not have been such a memorable experience for Wolkey and the Saxons.

Ferris nearly let a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter vanish when Blue Devil 3-point bomber Quisha Galloway buried a trey from the wing to pull Walla Walla (16-7) within a point, 40-39, with 20 seconds left.

But Morrisette easily sank the front end of a one-and-one and did not let a Walla Walla timeout phase her as she found the net on the second as well.

“I hadn’t really had a good game,” the junior said. “I knew I needed to step up when the team needed it.”

But the Blue Devils were not finished.

Johanna Erleback found a wide open Kristi Ocampo for an easy layup to cut the lead back to one.

Enter Ireland. The senior calmly stepped to the line, pounded the ball to the floor four times and sank the front end of her one-andone.

“I was nervous,” Ireland said. “But I just took a deep breath, visualized the shot going in and made sure there was enough arch on the shot.”

Thump, thump, thump, thump. Deep breath.

The second shot settle neatly in the net, sealing the win for the Saxons.

“If it had to come down to the end,” Wolkey said, “she’s a great person to have up there.”

Morrisette, Ireland, and Jennifer Swinton each finished with eight points to top the Saxons.

Walla Walla 3 11 7 20 - 41 Ferris 10 7 12 15 - 44

WALLA WALLA Zapata 0 0-0 0, Angley 2 0-0 5, Kropf 2 0-0 5, Galloway 3 0-0 9, Erlebach 2 1-2 5, Watkins 0 0-0 0, Ocampo 2 0-0 4, Martin 2 2-2 6, Kress 3 1-2 7. Totals 16 4-6 41.

FERRIS Pruett 2 0-0 5, Morrisette 2 4-4 8, Brown 1 0-0 3, Watkinson 0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0 0-0 0, Ireland 2 3-5 8, Tutt 3 1-2 7, Swinton 4 0-1 8, Williams 2 1-2 5. Totals 16 9-14 44.

3-point goals - Galloway 3, Angley, Kropf, Pruett, Brown, Ireland. Total fouls - WW 17, F 10. Fouled out - Krops.

Shadle Park 70, Pasco 31 The Highlanders went on a 15-0 run to end the first quarter and start the second and closed the half by scoring the last six points of the quarter to run away from the Bulldogs, giving Shawna Rainer her wish.

“I would like to play Mead again,” Rainer said.

The Panthers obliged, setting up a rematch of the GSL district championship Friday at Richland High School.

Rainer, a senior post, scored 18 points and came up with 11 rebounds to lead Shadle.

“We played good defense,” Shadle Park coach Linda Sheridan said. “We controlled the boards and gave them one shot (at the basket).”

Pasco’s inside game was disrupted when Kelli Olberding, its tallest player at 5-foot-11, spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble. The Bulldogs tried to pound the ball inside to her in the second half, but by then she was out of the flow and Pasco was out of the game.The Highlanders were more than a one girl show.JoEne Heimbigner added 14 points and four steals. Kristen Miller had 15 rebounds to go with eight points. Kelli Pilkington came off the bench to chip in 10 points. And Kelly Bartleson turned in a solid all-around performance (seven points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals).”Kelly’s a real unselfish player,” Sheridan said. “I can’t afford to keep her off the floor, even when she’s not scoring. When she needs to get it done with scoring, she does. And if not, she gets it done with assists.”

Pasco 8 6 4 13 - 31 Shadle Park 18 18 16 18 - 70

PASCO Fitzpatrick 1 0-0 2, Brinoes 0 0-0 0, Ellison 1 0-0 2, Olberding 0 2-2 2, MacKay 2 2-3 4, Horning 0 1-2 1, Teegarden 5 0-0 10, Maxwell 0 1-2 1, Wilcynski 2 0-0 5, Mathews 1 0-1 2. Totals 12 6-9 31.

SHADLE PARK K.Miller 3 2-2 8, Pilkington 4 2-2 10, Heimbigner 5 2-3 14, Clary 3 0-0 6, T.Miller 0 1-3 1, Alexander 1 0-2 2, Bartleson 3 1-2 7, Rainer 3 12-15 18, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Short 1 2-3 4. Totals 23 20-29 70.

3-point goals - Wilcynski, Heimbigner 2. Total fouls - P 16, SP 12. Fouled out - none.

Mead 47, Wenatchee 31 Wenatchee (11-11) pulled to within four points in the third quarter, but Mead outscored the GSL’s No. 2 seed 16-8 in the fourth quarter to get the victory.

Stacy Clinesmith scored 18 points, including and 8-for-8 performance from the free throw line to lead Mead.

Wenatchee 9 4 10 8 - 31 Mead 16 5 10 16 - 47

WENATCHEE Schooler 1 0-0 3, Lowe 1 0-0 2, Walker 1 2-2 4, Kelley 4 3-6 11, Sparks 0 1-2 1, Brown 0 2-2 2, King 1 0-1 2, Riedel 3 0-1 6. Totals 11 8-16 31.

MEAD Beatty 1 0-1 2, Clark 2 1-1 5, Cory 2 1-3 5, Turner 1 2-4 7, Clinesmith 5 8-8 18, McInerney 0 0-0 0, Benad 0 2-7 2, Roberts 0 0-1 0, Wakefield 0 0-0 0, Edburg 0 1-2 1, Clark 3 1-2 7, Bennett 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 16-29 47.

3-point goals - Schooler, Turner. Total fouls - W 21, M 16. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.

Kamiakin 43, Central Valley 25 The Braves held the Bears (11-13) to six points in the first half and cruised to a win at home.

Kamiakin’s experienced showed as it hit 20 of 46 shots from the field and limited the Bears to a woeful 10-of-33 outing.

Carrie Sanders’ nine points were high for the Bears.

Central Valley 4 2 14 5 - 25 Kamiakin 8 12 12 11 - 43

CENTRAL VALLEY Ang. Kallas 0 0-0 0, Carpenter 2 0-0 4, Clark 2 1-2 5, MacPhee 0 0-0 0, Sanders 3 3-6 9, Lee 3 0-0 7, White 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 4-8 25.

KAMIAKIN Lorenz 1 2-2 4, Keatts 5 0-0 10, Erikson 3 0-1 6, Ramsgate 0 0-0 0, Lampson 1 0-0 2, Willis 2 1-6 5, Williams 0 0-0 0, Cox 7 0-0 14, Beck 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 3-9 43.

3-point goals - Lee. Total fouls - CV 13, K 11. Fouled out - none.

MEMO: This is a sidebar that appeared with this story: AAA Girls Walla Walla (16-7) vs. Central Wenatchee (11-11) vs. Pasco (13-10), loser out, 5:30 p.m. Ferris (19-5) vs. Kamiakin (20-3), winner to state, 7 p.m. Mead (21-2) vs. Shadle Park (20-3), winner to state, 9 p.m.