WP Girls Fall To Knights

WAITSBURG - With no players shorter than 5-foot-7, three ball-handling players at 5-feet 10-inches or taller and a horde of deadly shooters, Sunnyside Christian's girls basketball team is a nightmare for every team in its 1B clas- sification - not to mention in the 1A or 2B classifica- tion. Waitsburg-Prescott's Lady Cardinals found out just how much of a night- mare on their home court Thursday dropping a 62-14 decision that included the running clock rule being invoked halfway through the third quarter.

The Knights used their superior height to stifle any WP scoring opportunities early and throughout most of the game. WP scored its first 2-point bucket - a Sam Moss lay-up off a side out-of-bounds play with 45 seconds remaining in the first quarter. That shot closed out the first quarter's scoring for both teams. The Knights led 16-4 at that point.

The Knights extended the lead to 20 just 3:30 into the second quarter before two Krystal Harris free throws closed it back to 18. But the Knights fast-break style attack picked right back up where it left off, bolting SC to a 30-point lead at halftime 38-8.

A true glimpse of the awesomeness of WP's foe was on display to start the third. The Knights tallied six points on three baskets in less than 35 seconds. The opening half-minute blitzkrieg marked the beginning of an 18-0 third quarter run that invoked the running clock rule at 48-8. Enedina Fuentes scored the only Cardinal point when she hit a single free throw in the final minute of the quarter. WP trailed at the break 56-9.

The Knights finished off the game with a 6-5 scoring advantage in a mercifully shortened fourth quarter.

"They're really good around the basket. They killed us on the offensive boards," said WP head coach Jerry Baker. "We just didn't have nothing to match with them. They were much more aggressive than we were. We had a lot of turnovers there to start with caused a lot by their aggressive defensive and our poor execution on offense."

Sunnyside Christian nev- er pressed in the game. The Knights points and forced turnovers came thanks to a superior half-court defense, quick get-the-ball-out-anddown the-court offense, fundamental aggressive rebounding, and high-per- centage shooting. Three Knights players finished in double figures in scor- ing-Kara den Hoed with 16, Annie Brouwer with 14, and Stormee Van Belle with 12. Van Belle also grabbed a dozen rebounds to lead both teams.

"We played them last year and they had all these girls," Baker said. "They were all back this year, and they'll have most of them next year. They've been thumping on a lot of people and they'll be playing for the state championship for 1B this year for sure."

The loss drops the Car- dinals record to 2-5 on the season. The Cards are off until the 27th when they take part in DeSales' Christ- mas tournament at Whitman College. The extra rest is a God-send for the Cards. Illness struck the team hard last week.