The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

WAITSBURG -- The WP Lady Cardinals knocked the Asotin Panthers off their undefeated pedestal last Saturday night with a 52-48 victory on Kison Court.

The Panthers were quick to score with a basket from JaLisa Jose and immediately put the full-court press on the Cardinals. The Cards were moving the ball well, drawing two early Panther fouls, and beating the press on their way to open scoring with a three-pointer from Krystal Harris.

The Panthers quickly answered with a basket of their own, but were called for their third foul at just 1.5 minutes into the game. The Cardinals' offense continued to see the floor well, working the ball around, waiting for the right move, as opposed to forcing the ball inside as they sometimes get caught up doing.

Hailey Goenen found Ronnie Hulce, who found Dionna Baker inside, who posted strong for two. Kristin Potter drove up the middle, but pulled up in the key and dumped it off to Baker who was working her hustle and bustle for another Cardinal basket.

Baker scored once again from the line, sinking back-toback free throws and putting the Cards up, 11-10, with 1:26 left in the quarter.

After the fourth jump ball of the game, the Cardinals scored again when Taylor Doepker found Potter who drove baseline, but dumped it off to Baker in the key for two.

Baker then shook up the Panther offense deflecting their pass and forcing them to scramble for the ball, but the buzzer put an end to the play and the Cardinals were up, 13-10.

It was Baker again who kicked off the second quarter with a blocked Panther shot, but after that the two teams spent the next few minutes taking turns at the free-throw line.

It was Potter who put the first field goal through the hoop with 5 minutes left in the half. The Cardinals continued to keep the heat on the Panthers until they hit a three-pointer with just less than 2 minutes in the half.

Cardinal scoring continued with two more baskets from Potter and one from Katy Hofer to give the Cardinals a 27-17 halftime lead.

The Panthers went on an 8-0 run in the seond half, cutting the Cardinal lead, 27-25, with 5:24 left in the third.

It was Potter once again who drove the baseline for two to get the scoring going for the Cards. A free throw from Baker, two buckets from Hofer and one more from Potter rounded out the scoring for the Cards in the third. But the Panthers outscore them, 13-9, and cut the Cardinal lead to 36-30 going into the fourth quarter.

What a long fourth quarter it was. So much time was spent at the free-throw line. The line ended up being the death of the Panthers and sealed the victory for the Cardinals.

The Panthers went seven for 14 from the line in the fourth quarter, leaving them shy of the lead, 50-48, with 37.4 seconds remaining.

It was Goenen's defensive rebound on a missed free throw that sent her to line. She missed her first one, but she nailed her second shot, putting the Panthers in need of a three-point play to stay in the game.

It was Hulce to the rescue as she stole a Panther pass at mid-court, drawing a Panther foul and a trip to the line with 6.7 seconds remaining.

She nailed her first free throw and missed her second, but she'd already done her part to put the game out of reach for the Panthers with a 52-48 lead.

Cardinal Kayla Huxoll put the icing on the cake as she stole a Panther pass to end the game and the Panthers' undefeated reign.

Waitsburg vs Asotin

52-48

WP 13 14 9 18 - 52 Asotin1383