Another league loss

Lady Yaks hands Lady Vikings second straight loss to start league

MOSES LAKE - League hasn't been kind to the Big Bend Lady Vikings so far.

But head coach Craig Randall said it is getting better.

The Yakima Valley Lady Yaks handed the Lady Vikings its second straight league loss with a 91-79 win Saturday. Big Bend opened the game with only two field goals in the first 7:15 of the game, allowing the Yaks to build a 16-4 lead in the first half.

"(We) came out fine, but we start four freshmen and I think they are coming out a little too hyped up," Randall added.

The Lady Vikings followed the first seven minutes of the game with 16-7 run to end the half and cut the Lady Yaks' lead to 42-34.

"After that start, we almost shot 50 percent for most of the game," Randall added.

Mara McPartland finished with a game-high 31 points and was perfect from the free-throw line going 11-for-11. But, what hurt the Vikings was the loss of Kari Darnell with over six minutes left in the second half and the Lady Vikings trailing 70-64.

"She is so ruthless and so good about fouls," Randall said about Darnell who finished the game with 13 points and five rebounds. "I think we lost a lot offensively at that point."

In the first half, the Lady Vikings came out of a timeout with 11:54 left in the first half and trailing 20-4 and immediately got to the free-throw line with McPartland nailing consecutive free throws, then Sheena Henderson followed with four points in a 5-3 run.

Henderson continued to work her way in the post and the open court scoring four more points in a 6-0 run by Big Bend, which cut Yakima Valley's lead to 36-24 with 3:23 left in the first half. Henderson finished the game with 21 points.

IN the second half, McPartland hit a 3-pointer with 15:10 on the clock and Henderson hit two baskets of her own to cut Yakima Valley's lead to 50-49. But, La Donna Downs, who finished the game with 20 points for the Lady Yaks, scored five consecutive points to slow down the Lady Vikings run.

Henderson tied the game at 60-60 with 11:18 left in the fourth, but again, Yakima Valley scored five straight points on Big Bend to erase another run and eventually force the Lady Vikings into fouling situation to get possession of the ball in the closing minutes.

Yakima Valley hit 8 of 9 free throws in the last two minutes to pull out a 91-79 win over Big Bend.

"I think what hurt us the most was the number of fouls we committed in the second half," Randall said. The Lady Vikings picked up 17 personal fouls in the last 20 minutes of the game and the Lady Yaks capitalized with 26 of 33 shooting from the free-throw line.

Yakima Valley 91, Big Bend 79

Yakima Valley (91) - Bravard 10, Locke 3, Ibach 14, Ulmer 24, Clark 10, Haywood 2, Rasmussen 6, Marez 2, Downs 20. Big Bend (79) - McPartland 31, Ball 6, Gates 8, Darnell 13, Henderson 21.