Poor Free-Throw Shooting Dooms WP Girls

PASCO - Waitsburg- Prescott's girls dominated the Tri-Cities Prep Jag­uars in nearly all aspects of their game Saturday in Pasco-steals, rebounds, field goal attempts, and free throw tries. The one place it didn't-made free throws- proved costly, and proved the margin of defeat in the Cardinals 51-47 loss.

In all, WP shot an as­tounding 41 times from the charity stripe, connecting on just 12.

"Twenty-nine percent from the free throw line- that's just ridiculous," said a wryly amused WP coach Jerry Baker after the game. "12-for-41-that's the ball game right there. We had no business even being in the ball game shooting 12-for- 41. That's ridiculous."

The free throw shoot­ing woes started in the first half, but they were most noticeable in the final eight minutes of the game when WP frantically tried digging itself out of 12 and 14-point holes.

The two teams played to a 10-all tie through one quarter. WP took a 1-point lead, 22-21, into halftime. The lead could have easily been more-much more.

WP let its guard down in the third, up 26-24, when it allowed Tri-Cities Prep shooters to finally get open shots. WP paid with a 15-1 Jag run to end the period. TCP led at the break 39-27.

Nine of TCP's 15 points came after WP's attacking point guard Chelsey Bran­nock and shooting guard Stacia Deal left the game for the Cards with 4 fouls each.

"That hurt a lot," Baker said of Brannock and Deal's bench time due to fouls. "But that was just lazy stuff. Then Katy (Hofer) got in foul trouble too. It hurts when I've got Chelsey on the bench, and she knows better (than to commit some of the fouls she did)."

WP launched its come- back try at the start of the fourth, with Brannock and Deal on the bench. Hofer hit an inside bucket to close the gap to ten. Sam Moss followed with a put-back on an offensive rebound 40 seconds later to make it an 8-point ball game. The Jags Corrine Barnett responded with a 3-pointer at 5:53- TCP's first shot attempt of the quarter against WP's pressure D.

Brannock returned at the 6-minute mark and she, and Cardinal post Heidi Miller each took trips to the foul line within the first 30 sec­onds. Unfortunately, both players missed all four free throws. Krystal Harris was able to grab Brannock's second miss, and put back a 2-pointer to shave the deficit back to single digits.

TCP appeared to ice the victory with two quick buck­ets- the first by freshman Makayla McLane, and the second a, basket and foul and a made free throw by TCP's leading scorer Mad­die LeBrun. Those two shots put Prep up 14, 47-33, with just under five minutes to play.

WP called timeout at 4:56 and came out revived to the tune of six points in 34 seconds. Brannock attacked her way to the foul line, hit­ting on two free throws at 4:44, and making a lay-in while being fouled seconds later. She missed the 3-point play try. Then Harris stole the ball on the press, and got fouled going up for the shot. Harris hit on both of her free throw attempts.

Deal returned at the 3:39 mark, when Brannock com­mitted her fifth foul away from the ball. TCP's Danika Whitsett hit a jumper from the elbow to bump the lead back to 10, Deal's two made free throws at 3:12 and Harris' bucket closed the gap to 49-43.

Harris returned to the line and hit 1-of-2, to make it a 5-point game. She missed a lay-up seconds later after Deal stole the ball on the press. LeBrun answered the missed opportunity with a deuce, making it 51-44 with under two minutes to go.

TCP's Barnett fouled out with 1:24 left, sending WP's Samantha Fedderson to the line to shoot two. Fedderson missed both, but Hofer scooped the rebound and was fouled. Hofer made only one of her two tries. Harris scored again at :46 to bring the Cards within four. WP stole the Jags' ball again, but Moss couldn't convert the lay-up to bring them within two. TCP ran the clock out after that.

Krystal Harris led WP with 16 points, nine re­bounds and seven steals. No other Cards reached the 10-point plateau. Four TCP players scored in double figures, led by Maddie LeB­run's 17. The Jaguars hit on eight of 12 free throw attempts.

Brannock and Deal had the most disappointing nights at the free throw line, as their aggressive play gen­La s t erated the most attempts of any players on the court. The two starters finished 3-of-13 and 4-of-10 respectively.

"I tell them a missed free throw is like a turnover. They get the ball back and you don't get any points. It's a turnover," Baker said agitat- edly. "But that's what you've got when you're playing a lot of inexperience.

"It's a huge loss for us. Now we're in a (play-off) bracket we don't even want to be close to. That was something we couldn't af- ford to lose," Baker said.

The loss drops WP to 4-4 in league and 7-9 on the season. WP renews its rivalry with Dayton Friday at Kison Court in Waitsburg, then travels to Asotin Saturday.