Sprague-Harrington finishes strong
Sprague-Harrington’s top-ranked girls basketball team had rebounded well from its first-round loss to Sunnyside Christian with a pair of routs in consolation play, poised to take fifth place in Saturday’s matchup with Toutle Lake.
Stacie Shields made sure the Falcons wouldn’t settle for eighth.
Playing her last game in the Falcons’ red and silver, Shields scored 15 of her 24 points in the second half and pulled down 13 rebounds to give S-H a 75-62 victory in the Arena.
“It was nice because I wanted her last game to be a great game, especially in a tournament game like this for a trophy,” said Falcons head coach and Stacie’s father, Ed Shields. “I’m really happy she had a great day – as a dad, and also as a head coach.”
Junior point guard Roni Jo Mielke took over the game early for S-H (29-1), scoring six straight points to keep the Falcons ahead after building a 10-point second-quarter lead. Mielke finished the half with 12 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
But the wheels seemed to start coming off in the closing seconds of the half for S-H when Natalie Deking earned a technical foul with 1.1 seconds left for contesting a no-call on a layup attempt. Lindsey Scheffler hit the resulting two free throws, then took the ensuing inbounds pass, turned around and launched a 27-foot 3-pointer from the left wing through the hoop to bring the Ducks (22-5) within two.
“It brought our hopes back knowing we were in it,” Toutle Lake senior guard Jessi Hanna said.
Despite building momentum at the half, the Ducks couldn’t keep up with the Falcons after the break. S-H pushed the lead back to 10 when junior center Jamie Larmer scored five straight points on an inside basket, a free throw and a jumper from the right side with her foot on the 3-point line. The lead swelled to 15 in the final minute of the third quarter, when Deking passed outside to Shields for an open 3-pointer and Shields returned the favor on the next possession.
“They had fresher legs than we did, and we couldn’t seem to move our feet too well,” Ducks head coach Larry Hoff said. “It’s tough for the West Side teams to come over here, between the travel and the games. It’s hard to have legs on the fourth day.”
Toutle Lake cut the lead to nine points after sophomore guard Denali Preston, Hanna and Scheffler each hit a pair of free throws in succession, but Mielke put the game out of reach with 5 1/2 minutes left in the fourth with a pull-up jumper in the lane (giving Mielke her 100th State B point) and a drive past Hanna. Mielke finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals.
“Before halftime, especially in the second quarter, we were rushing on offense and didn’t really try running our plays,” Stacie Shields said. “In the second half, we concentrated more on running our plays, and that really helped us.”
Shields scored seven points in the final 3:11 of her high school career, including a breakaway layup with 20 seconds left to make the score 75-59 and give S-H its biggest lead of the game. Hanna scored 11 of her 20 points in the fourth quarter of her final game as a Duck.