U-Hi staves off Mead

When University and Mead, tied for second in Greater Spokane League girls basketball, faced off, they gave fans their money’s worth.

It took every bit of the wherewithal of Tennessee-bound Angie Bjorklund for the visiting Titans to escape with a 64-57 victory.

The game had 14 ties or lead changes. U-Hi needed each of its 11 3-pointers, five of them by junior Riki Schiermeister and four by Bjorklund, to survive against the young and gifted Panthers.

Bjorklund finished with a game-high 28 points. But she had to work hard against Mead’s specialty defense merely to get cursory looks at the basket.

The Panthers did a good job of taking away an inside game as long as 6-foot-5 freshman post Alexis Olgard was on the court forcing U-Hi to shoot from the perimeter.

Two of the Titans’ 3-pointers came from Bjorklund and Schiermeister to put them ahead 56-55 after Mead took a 53-50 lead with 3 minutes, 38 seconds remaining.

Bjorklund took control down the stretch.

She scored six more points in the game’s final 2:14 for a nine-point lead.

“It took me a while to warm up,” Bjorklund said. “What were they running, a triangle-and-two? It took us a while to get used to that.”

Mead led early in the game 10-7 before three different Titans made 3-pointers for a 20-12 first-quarter advantage.

The Panthers rallied behind Kami Clark to lead 29-28 and the teams finished tied at intermission. Clark and Kelli Valentine traded baskets with U-Hi players throughout the third quarter. Schiermeister hit two long-range shots for a 46-45 lead.

It then became freshman Jazmine Redmon’s turn to fuel Mead’s fourth-quarter success and lead before Schiermeister started a 11-point Titans run with a tough 3-pointer, for her 15th point of the game.

“I’ve had problems in the past, but I worked on it at practice,” Schiermeister said. “I felt good and the team needed me.”

The closeness of the game didn’t surprise U-Hi coach Mark Stinson.

”(Mead is) just big at their post positions and quick at their guard positions,” he said. “That’s why I say they’re like a college team. They’re really talented.

“We have a pretty veteran squad. I thought the girls did a nice job of finding each other and scoring when it mattered.”

Gonzaga Prep 52, East Valley 49: Tara Cronin scored a season-high 29 points and the visiting Bullpups (2-2) parlayed a free-throw advantage for their win. The Knights (3-2) led by as many as seven points in the first half. But the Bullpups scored the last 10 points before intermission and for the game were 15 for 26 at the line, EV was 4 for 5. Cronin and fellow senior Elise Kuhar-Pitters (14 points) had all but nine of G-Prep’s points. EV was led by Ashley Grater’s 12.

Central Valley 64, Mt. Spokane 46: The visiting Bears (3-3) spent much of their evening at the free-throw line, making 33 of 41 attempts during their win. They trailed after a quarter before outscoring the Wildcats (0-5) 33-17 in the middle quarters. For the second game this week Justine Bowman (15 points on 10-of-14 free-throw shooting), Tristina Kline (12 points) and Alexa Morales (10) provided much of CV’s offense. Korina Baker, a freshman transfer from Freeman, gained eligibility at Mt. Spokane this week and debuted with 11 points.

Shadle Park 62, Rogers 59: A furious second-half rally was not enough for the Pirates (1-4), who fell just short at home. The Highlanders (3-2) had outscored Rogers 19-6, when Denisha Whitehead picked up her third foul in the second quarter at Shaw Middle School, to take a 30-17 lead. Whitehead wound up with 21 points, including four 3-pointers, and Rikeya Crossley had 18 to lead the comeback.

Lexi Bishop scored 21 to pace Shadle. Lexie Pettersen had 15. The Highlanders made 21 of 31 free throws, Rogers was 8 of 14.

Lewis and Clark 70, North Central 24: The host Tigers (6-0) remained the lone GSL unbeaten team with their easy victory over the Indians (0-5). LC led 42-13 by halftime and pushed the advantage to 61-17 after three quarters. Four Tigers players finished in double figures during the game. Guard Brittany Kennedy scored 14 points, had seven rebounds and six steals. Katelan Redmon scored a game high 16 points and added six rebounds. Also scoring in double figures were Jeneva Anderson and Lyndi Seidensticker with 10 points apiece. Alicia Kahler was tops for the Indians, scoring eight.