Shorthanded Gonzaga Prep girls hold off University with group effort; Hudson Floyd, Brogan Howell pace G-Prep boys
The Gonzaga Prep girls team is missing two starters due to injury and a third played Friday with a sore ankle sustained in practice earlier in the week.
But they don’t keep track of how they do it, just how many points they have at the end of the game.
Sophomore Quinn Pederson scored 21 points, junior Belle Hernandez added 19 and the visiting Bullpups came back to beat University 72-65 in the first Greater Spokane League game for both teams on Friday.
“I think that our team put a really good effort in and we just we worked our hardest. We did our best,” Pederson said. “We moved the ball really well. We were good on rebounds. We pretty much did a lot of things well.”
“We needed this one tonight,” Gonzaga Prep coach Geoff Arte said, “because our stretch coming up is pretty brutal, with Ridgeline and Mead and (Central Valley) in the next three. We needed to sneak one out of here.”
Gonzaga Prep (9-3, 1-0) has been without all-league sophomore guard Aylah Cornwall all season. Senior wing Olivia McIntyre (12 points per game) has missed the past two games with a leg injury and junior guard Laura Thompson – who scored 28 points on Tuesday night – limped through the game and finished with two points on free throws late in the game.
Senior Kara Wilson scored 13 points and sophomore Rylee Largent – starting in place of McIntyre – added 12 for the Bullpups.
“It’s just kind of been a weird year at Prep – boys and girls,” Arte said. “We just have the injury bug, but that’s part of the game. You just gotta have some depth, and we’re developing it by accident right now. But if we can get everybody healthy, we’re gonna be really, really tough.”
“Some things are gonna hold us back, but as a strong team that we are, we just keep persevering,” Pederson said. “Nothing’s really gonna stop us. We just have to not let (injury talk) get ahead of us.”
G-Prep’s rigorous nonleague schedule prepared them for league battles such as this. The Bullpups have played five games against teams in the top 10 in RPI.
“If you would have told us, even without all our engines, that we would be 8-3 going into this game, we probably would have taken it,” Arte said. “I think playing hard games, that’s what kids want to do, too.”
“We’ve honestly had enough games on our schedule to really get us prepared for the season,” Pederson said. “Every game we play is just gonna make us better.”
U-Hi’s Handran sisters – junior McKenzie and sophomore Keely – combined to score 13 points in the first quarter as the Titans grabbed a 22-16 lead.
McKenzie Handran hit a 3-pointer midway through the second quarter to open a nine-point lead, but G-Prep had a 10-2 run and U-Hi (4-6, 0-1) led 35-31 at halftime.
Largent and Wilson hit 3s early in the third quarter to give G-Prep its first least at 37-35. Pederson hit a 3 from the wing with 10 seconds left in the quarter and the Bullpups led 54-51 entering the fourth.
McKenzie Handran hit a 3 with 3 minutes left to make it a one-point game, but Henandez drove the lane with a left-handed layup to make the lead five with a minute left and the Bullpups held on.
Roberts led U-Hi with 22 points and McKenzie Handran finished with 19.
Boys
Gonzaga Prep 82, University 69: Hudson Floyd scored 26 points, Brogan Howell added 25 and the Bullpups (11-2, 1-0) topped the Titans (2-9, 0-1) .
Jack Del Mese led U-Hi with 22 points.
G-Prep led by 12 early in the fourth quarter, but the lead dipped to four before the Bullpups pulled away at the end.
“Welcome to GSL play,” G-Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “U-Hi showed a great deal of fight. They got up on us early, hit some really tough shots, contested shots. … But we went on a little bit of a run there and stretched it out to a decent lead. It gave us some breathing room.”
U-Hi led by five after the first quarter, and the game was tied at 33 at halftime. G-Prep came out with a 10-2 run at the start of the third quarter, with Howell picking up a quick five points. Floyd hit two 3-pointers and the Bullpups led 62-54 after three.
The lead reached double digits, but U-Hi clawed back and Del Mese hit a runner to make it a four-point game with a minute to go. Jackson Mott responded at the other end with a jumper and G-Prep made some late free throws to hold on.