Lady Cardinals End Perfect Season

SPOKANE - The Lady Cardinals' perfect season came to an end this weekend after WP struggled with its competitors' rough, anything goes court style that, at times, seemed to bounce up against the very edge of good sportsmanship.

Still, the Cardinals had their heads held high after their two losses, leaving the University High School teary-eyed but proud of their historic winning streak and exceptional teamwork.

"The season was awesome," Cardinal Kayla Huxoll said. "We played our hardest. I'm really proud of my teammates."

Particularly in its game against White Swan Friday, which WP lost 75-53, did the players and home crowd from the Yakima area push the boundaries of the acceptable.

Although endowed with plenty of talent and skills, the Cougars seemed to prefer blatant fouls over finesse, while their sideline support was less than respectful to the actions on the court.

Cougars cheerleaders repeatedly stomped their feet and clapped their hands disruptively during Cardinals free throws in the first half, while a home town fan would let out a lone and prolonged, distressed-sounding shriek every time a WP player prepared for her well-deserved shots from the line.

Fans and players from Lake Roosevelt were considerably more restrained in their game on the court and in support from the stands, but the play was almost just as physical at times.

Despite the Cardinals' best effort, the Raiders edged them out of the state finals 43-34 on Saturday afternoon.

"We had our chances," head coach Jerry Baker said. "We're not used to being behind."

In the first game on Friday, the Cougars had their hands just about everywhere to trap WP players, thwart shots, strip balls and intercept passes. White Swan left no stone unturned in regaining possession, leading to more than 30 turnovers for the Cardinals, who are used to playing in a league where the Cougars' kind of direct ball theft simply isn't the rule.

Combined with tight passing and a quickness that exceeded the Cardinals' own, the Cougars found themselves ahead 18-17 at the end of the first quarter.

"They were a lot quicker than I thought they would be," Baker said. "They were a lot more aggressive than we were."

During the second quarter, White Swan out-rebounded the Cardinals, double and triple teamed the highest-scoring WP starters and played a far forward defense that got the Waitsburg Prescott team off its game.

As a result of White Swan's rough coverage, WP got a lot of its goals from free throws. But the Cardinals didn't take advantage of most of the Cougars' fouls, converting only 17 of 37 during the game.

The quarter ended with White Swan up 34- 29. Throughout the first half, the normally effective Krystal Harris, Dionna Baker, Megan Withers and Genesis Pearson saw their productivity cut in half by the Cougars' sticky fingers.

A late rally from Huxoll, Pearson and Withers, who scored a trey with just over two minutes to go in the third, brought their team within 7 at 49-42 and brought the crowd back into the game, but the Cardinals still ended the period with a double-digit deficit at 56-45.

Pearson again rallied her team with a series of layups, bringing WP back within eight at 59-51, but the Cougars came right back with treys and layups, while their magnetic hands iced the Cardinals' score at 53 with 2:30 minutes to go.

The White Swan points onslaught continued with field goals to run up the final to 75-53.

"They're a good outfit," Baker said, giving a nod to the notion that the Cardinals simply weren't challenged as intensively at any time during the league season or early playoffs with the exception of their district championship game against DeSales.

WP was undefeated coming into the state tournament, while White Swan had an 18-5 record.

The Cardinals got their last chance to make it into the final eight on Saturday afternoon, when they faced Lake Roosevelt. By now the WP women were used to the more physical demands of the playoff round and showed considerably more grit in preventing turnovers or regaining control of their scoring momentum.

During the first quarter, Lake Roosevelt quickly ran up a 7-0 lead until Pearson became the first Cardinal to score. WP was fouled several times, getting several points from the free throw line until Harris secured a trey, which was immediately answered by a Raiders' trey to end the quarter at 18-10 for the Cardinals' opponents.

Kristin Potter launched the second quarter with a WP basket, followed by a steal and layup from Ronnie Hulce that ignited the crowd.

Cardinals were fouled left and right, their free throw conversions more numerous than the night before. A Baker free-throw conversion brought the Cards within one at 22-21 shortly before halftime. The second quarter ended 24-21 in the Raiders' favor.

Lake Roosevelt was the first to score in the third quarter, which was the lowestscoring quarter of the game with WP only registering one point on the board compared to the Raiders' 7. The quarter ended with the Cardinals behind 31-22.

The fourth quarter saw by far the biggest WP effort of the game with a tenacious battle for possession under the bucket and back-to-back treys from Harris that brought the Cardinals within three points at 35-32 with 2:30 minutes to go in the game.

But the Raiders kept their cool despite triple teaming from the Cardinals, putting up several more layups that responded to three more foul points from WP, ending the game at 43-34 before the buzzer.

"I thought we had a good chance to come from behind," said Pearson, who, as a senior, played her last basketball game for the Cardinals. "But we kept making mistakes."

Pearson said she didn't think her team would go as far as it did during the regular season and district playoffs, but once here had hoped to keep going.

Baker said it was the worst his team struggled offensively all year. A lot of WP fast breaks didn't convert.

"There were times when I thought we'd be fine, and then we'd just throw the ball away," Baker said. "Still, we made it to the final 12. The girls did great. It was a great year."

Waitsburg-Prescott vs White Swan 53-75

WP 17 12 16 8 53 WS 18 16 22 19 75

WP (53): Genesis Pearson 18; Dionna Baker 10; Ronnie Hulce 9; Kristin Potter 5; Kayla Huxoll 4; Krystal Harris 4 and Megan Withers 3. Free throws: 17/35 for 48 percent.

Waitsburg-Prescott vs Lake Roosevelt 34-43

WP 10 11 1 12 34 LR18671243

WP (34): Krystal Harris 9; Dionna Baker 9; Genesis Pearson 7; Kristin Potter 2; Katie Hofer 2; Ronnie Hulce 2; and Alyssa Hafen 1. Free throws: 13/19 for 68 percent.