Shadle Park, CV Girls Win Openers

District 8 4A girls

Coach Dale Poffenroth told his basketball team to play to win.

Raeanna Jewell showed her teammates she wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Then Central Valley overcame a slow start to defeat Ferris 50-43 at CV in the first round of the District 8 girls basketball tournament Tuesday night.

The Bears also earned a berth in the regional - and a rematch with University in the district seeding games - while the season ended for Ferris.

The season also ended for third-seeded Gonzaga Prep, which lost a 56-54 overtime game to sixth-seed Shadle Park at Prep.

CV and U-Hi play at 3:45 p.m. Thursday at the Arena. The Titans beat the Bears twice last week. Shadle faces top-seeded Mead at 7:15.

Central Valley 50, Ferris 43

The Saxons started out red hot. Jenny Benzel hit three quick shots for a 7-5 lead then a 7-0 run made it 14-5.

At 12-5, Poffenroth called a timeout.

“I told them they have to play to win, not to play to lose,” he said. “They were tense, tight. The young kids looked shell-shocked.

After the timeout, Jewell was called for an offensive foul for pushing Denise Kirstein, who had bumped her hard as she tried to make a cut. The Saxons turned that into a nine-point lead.

Jewell shrugged off any emotional lift that her retaliation may have provided, but sophomore point guard CV’s Jayme Heinen promptly banked a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Ferris missed three shots before the Bears came back and scored on Kendra Ferguson’s baseline shot. After another Saxons miss, Heinen swished a 3 from the top and it was a game at 14-13.

Ferris got the last bucket of the quarter, but Heinen hit a 3 from the left wing to tie it.

The Saxons went more than 5 minutes without a basket. CV took the lead but didn’t pull away, although the Bears were ahead 39-28 after three quarters.

“We didn’t shoot the ball,” Ferris coach Art Rojas said. “As soon as we got ahead 14-5 we went cold. We went colder than cold.”

A three-point play by Jewell early in the fourth quarter made it 42-30 but the Saxons scored nine straight to get back in the game.

Jewell, who had 16 points in the two losses to U-Hi, scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

“I just got into it more, probably,” she said. “I knew they would be out to stop me. I tried not to let it get to my head.”

She also credited a Sunday shooting session for fixing her shot. She hit 7 of 12, including 2-of-4 3-pointers, and all three of her free throws. Sunday, she had made 14 straight 3s.

Three-pointers were a huge difference. When Ferris won at CV 62-51 the Saxons hit six 3s. They also had six in a 61-56 loss at the Arena. This time they got one, Benzel’s in the first 90 seconds, in 13 attempts. CV was 5 of 12.

Ferris 16 6 6 15 - 43

Central Valley 13 13 13 11 - 50

Ferris (14-7) - Lynn 5 1-2 11, Foster 2 0-2, Gilpin 1 0-0 2, Kirstein 1 0-0 2, Benzel 5 0-1 11, Olajoyegbe 0 0-0 0, Taylor 5 1-3 11, Kelly 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 2-6 43.

Central Valley (16-6) - Heinen 3 1-2 10, Rodgers 3 2-4 7, Ferguson 2 1-2 5, Wing 0 0-0 0, Rae. Jewell 7 3-3 19, Wagner 2 0-0 4, Moore 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 7-11 50.

3-point goals - Benzel, Heinen 3, Jewell 2. Total fouls - Ferris 16, Central Valley 14. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none.

Shadle Park 56, G-Prep 54 (OT)

Amy Ridings scored 20 points, including Shadle Park’s six overtime points, as the Highlanders stunned the Bullpups.

Juliann Laney, who scored 24 points and hit her first nine free throws, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 3 seconds left in regulation.

Led by Jennifer Stockman’s 6-of-6 shooting, the Highland were 15 of 18 in the second half, including 2 of 2 in the fourth quarter, and 24 of 33 for the game. Prep was 15 of 25.

Prep slowly pulled ahead in first half, going up 28-20, but Shadle had a 17-7 edge in the third quarter.

Rachel Jones added 13 points and Stockman had 10 for Shadle. Stephanie Housam had 10 for Prep. Carly Barnes was held to one field goal, more than 10 points below her average.

Shadle Park 10 10 17 13 6 - 56

Gonzaga Prep 15 13 7 15 4 - 54

Shadle Park (12-9) - Ridings 6 6-9 20, Stockman 2 6-6 10, Runkel 0 0-0 0, Jones 4 5-8 13, Osborn 2 2-4 6, Warren 1 3-4 5, Alake 0 0-0 0, McGrath 0 2-2 2. Totals 15 24-33 56.

Gonzaga Prep (15-7) - Gillum 2 1-1 5, Laney 7 9-10 24, Umbdenstock 0 0-0 0, Heitman 0 0-0 0, Stone 0 0-0 0, Weir 0 0-0 0, Barnes 1 0-0 2, Gibbon 1 0-0 2, O’Brien 1 3-6 5, Budinsky 0 0-0 0, Solan 0 0-0 0, Housam 5 0-0 10, Wood 2 2-7 4, Wrigglesworth 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 15-25 54.

3-point goals - Ridings 2, Laney. Total fouls - Shadle Park 21, Gonzaga Prep 23. Fouled out - Warren, Barnes. Technicals - none.