WP Girls Go 2-3 Over The Weekend

WAITSBURG - The Waitsburg-Prescott women throttled Walla Walla Val­ley Academy Monday, got throttled by DeSales Satur­day, and pulled out a come- from-behind thriller in over­time Friday versus Asotin to fill a busy three games in four days 'weekend' on the hardwood of Kison Court.

The 2-for-3 showing puts WP third in league, a half- game behind Dayton prior to the Bulldogs' Tuesday's action. Fifth place Tri-Cities Prep is on tap for Saturday night. WP beat WWVA 43-20, and Asotin 57-53. DeSales topped the Cards 52-18.

Against WWVA, Waits­burg Prescott scored more points (22) in a blazing first quarter than they did in the final three quarters combined. WP trailed early. Down 8-4 after Emily Field hit her second 3-pointer for WWVA at the 4:32 mark, WP responded, and loudly.

Krystal Harris potted an open 3 on the Cards' ensuing possession, then followed with and end-to-end lay-up after stealing the ball on the Knights' next play. Katie Hofer buried a deuce from the elbow at 3:19, and Stacia Deal followed with another trey to give the Cards a 14-8 advantage with just under three minutes showing on the clock.

Amy Arnzen cut the lead to 14-10 with a lay-up off a WP turnover, but one-wom­an wrecking-crew Chelsey Branock answered back with a solo 8-0 run. The WP junior guard hit a 3, two 2-point field goals, and a free throw in just over a minute's time to give the Cards a 22- 11 lead heading into period two.

The scoring output for both teams decreased in the second quarter. WWVA and WP tallied five points apiece. WP scored seven more points in the third and nine in the fourth, but it was WP's defense that stole the show. The Cardinals held the Knights to three third quarter points via a Cassie Mason trey, and one fourth quarter point on a Megan Gregg free throw.

"That was our emphasis tonight, to start quick and hard," said WP coach Jerry Baker. "We played real well in the first quarter then we got a little bit relaxed on defense in the middle of the second quarter. Then we come back out of the locker room and started picking it up again."

"(Brannock) has gotten really aggressive and that's what we need out of her," WP coach Jerry Baker said of his attacking point guard. "That can get her into a little foul trouble sometimes, but she's very aggressive taking it to the basket and that's what we need to do. That's what we did (as a team) Friday night against Asotin."

WP didn't start out that way versus Asotin. The Lady Cards scored a paltry six points in the first frame, including shooting 0-of-6 from the free throw line. Meanwhile Asotin tallied fifteen points against WP's defense to claim an early 9-point advantage. Had the Panthers not shot so poorly from the stripe-2-for-10 in the quarter-the Cards may have been too far behind to weather the storm.

WP picked up its play in the second quarter including at the stripe, connecting on 6-of-7, to outscore Asotin 19-12 and pull within two at half. The two teams traded buckets in the third and with eight minutes left, Asotin clung to a four point advan- tage.

WP tied the game in the fourth in large part due to Katie Hofer hitting her final five free throws. Conversely, WWVA missed on four of its seven attempts. WP blew a chance to take the victory in the final possession of regu- lation, and settled for the win in overtime.

"We called a timeout with seven seconds left to set up a play," Baker said, "but we ended up throwing the ball away. Then we went into overtime and Krystal (Har- ris) pretty much took over."

Harris scored nine points in the extra four minutes, nailing two 2-point field goals and 5-of-6 shots from the free throw line. Hofer added another three points to give WP the 12-8 overtime edge, and the ball game 57-53.

Harris and Hofer paced the WPers with 16 points apiece. Chelsey Brannock chipped in 14 more. Harris completed the double-double with 10 boards. Hofer nearly mimicked the feat with nine rebounds of her own. Brannock led all scor- ers against WWVA with 16.

Saturday's rumble with the Irish could have been called by technical knockout after two quarters. The Irish led the stymied Cards 29-9 at half. Things didn't get much better for WP in the second half as DeSales capped the crushing by outscoring WP 23-9 down the stretch.

"We couldn't do any- thing Saturday night (ver- sus DeSales)," said Baker. "It didn't matter what we tried. We just didn't show up to play. We had 40 turnovers that night, and it wasn't their press. It was just us getting into the offense and throwing the ball away."

No players reached dou- ble figures for the Cards Sat- urday. Hofer's nine was tops. Allison Wujek led DeSales with 14.

WP now stands 6-8 on the season, and 3-2 in league, good for third place. The Cardinal girls play again Sat- urday in Pasco at Tri-Cities Prep.