WP And Irish Trade Lead Nine Times; But Cardinals Get The One That Counts

WALLA WALLA - The Cardinals and the Irish traded the lead in their district tournament game nine times, indicating how close the game was until the final minute or so.

That's when DeSales' fouls finally caught up with the WP opponent and senior Cardinals Genesis Pearson, Megan Withers plus junior Krystal Harris put the game away 40-36.

"That was exciting," head coach Jerry Baker said with more than a hint of the understated. "I knew it was going to be a tough game. But we played good defense and hit some final free throws. That iced it for us."

The victory not only earned the Lady Cardinals their first district championship in a while, it also prolonged one of the longest winning streaks for the team, which is now 21-0 and remains undefeated going into the state playoffs on Friday in Spokane.

"I think we will go even further," Cardinal Katie Hofer said. "I believe in us."

As happened in many regular season games this year, the Cardinals were off to a slow start, taking some time to find their rhythm and overcoming some early jitters that plagued both teams on the much larger and much louder Whitman College court.

DeSales built an early sixpoint lead and had the only scores until Genesis Pearson dunked one for two and ignited the fire in the girls' bellies, not to mention the Waitsburg Prescott crowd.

A cool and confident Krystal Harris trey put the Cardinals ahead for the first time at 7-6 with two minutes to go in the first quarter. Her bucket was followed by a foxy Kristin Potter steal and layup to give WP the lead at 9-6 when the first-quarter buzzer went off.

DeSales came right back in the second, scoring two field goals to put the Irish ahead 10-9. WP responded. Harris put the Cards ahead with a free throw, after which Potter thrilled the red-andblue fans with back-to-back layups, making it 16-11.

DeSales almost closed the gap before the half, making it 16-15 after both teams were hamstrung by very tight traveling calls from the officials.

"Both teams struggled offensively," Baker said about the low score during the first half. "Everybody was kind of tight. With the championship on the line, everybody gets a bit nervous."

But if the shooting seemed poor in the first two quarters, it got worse in the third. The Cardinals only scored five points, including another Harris trey. The Irish managed seven. The third period ended 21-18 with the Cards still in the lead.

DeSales scored first in the fourth, then a trey put them ahead 23-21 and started another lead exchange between the tenacious teams. With more than four minutes to go in the game, Withers scored and drew the foul, then put her team four points ahead 28-24, but a free throw and trey put DeSales back in the game and another Irish three pointer put them ahead 35-33 with about two minutes to go in the game.

The Cardinals quickly pulled up alongside with a Withers field goal that went in after she drew foul, the first of three penalties that allowed WP to put the game away with free throws. Pearson, Withers and Harris all went to the line and cashed in on Irish fouls. One more DeSales free throw brought the Walla Walla team within four with less than half a minute to go, but time and one more foul against Harris quickly became the Irish' worst enemy.

With eight seconds to go, Harris missed her free throw shots but it mattered not. The bench was already on its feet and at the buzzer the girls no longer had any reason to contain themselves, rushing to their teammates on the court and making one last huddle before saluting their wellrespected Irish opponents and taking receipt of their long-anticipated trophy.

"It's pretty awesome," Hofer said about being district champions. "Our girls really wanted it."

The Cardinals go to Spokane, where they will face White Swan on Friday night. But they will have to be beat twice to get knocked out of the tournament because their first place in the district bestows the double-elimination rule on them going into the playoffs.

Baker said he will not change his defensive strategy, which has been effective. But the offense is going to need some work, he said.

The playoffs are a different ball game at the larger venues and, in the case of Whitman College, a long court, Baker said. Then, there's the unbroken string of wins.

"When you're undefeated there's a lot of pressure, mostly from the girls themselves," he said.