Warden gets in trouble

Brad Redford

Herald sports editor

Cougars collapse on day one, face loser-out on day two of tournament

YAKIMA — Finding the solution to what went wrong for Warden may be tougher than it appears.

Shooting, defense, turnovers and nerves — just pick one and the Cougars had trouble with it. The end result was Lake Roosevelt capturing a 48-34 win over Warden on the first day of the 1A WIAA state tournament at the Yakima SunDome.

In all, it wasn't something the Cougars were counting on, but the exact opposite. And the first quarter told more of a story Warden was hoping for.

Both teams held each other to seven points in a defensive stand. The last three quarters summed up a tumble head coach Todd Kisler blamed on nerves more than anything else.

"As much as they want to admit and I want to admit, I was nervous and when you look up from the court, it is a big building," Kisler said.

On the offensive end, Warden took 30 shots from the field in the first half and came away with only 15 points for the effort. The Raiders weren't any better with 27.3 percent shooting, but Lake Roosevelt shot over 50 percent in the second quarter to build its nine-point lead at halftime.

Sierra Kisler and Dana Bates, who led the team in scoring throughout the regular season, were held to five points combined in the first half.

For Bates, the struggles on the offensive end continued throughout the game, only shooting 1-for-12 from the field for two points and five rebounds. At the start of the fourth, Bates picked up her fifth foul with 6:39 left to play, handicapping both ends of the court for the Cougars.

"That kind of hurt us because we give up the middle a little more," Kisler said. "She is a lot of our scoring and it hurts us when she has to come out of the game."

After posting a 7-7 tie after the first eight minutes, Lachelle Ives, who finished with eight points for the game, hit back-to-back free throws to give Lake Roosevelt its final lead of the game.

Bates hit her only basket of the game with 5:43 left in the second after missing her first four shots of the game. Mirielle Pixton added a layup to cut the Raiders' lead to 15-11.

Pixton later hit a shot from outside the paint to cut the lead to 15-15, but Lake Roosevelt finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 24-15 at the break.

In the third, Amanda Marchand scored consecutive free throws and Ives hit a layup to build a 28-15 Lake Roosevelt lead. Kisler followed with two free throws, but the Raiders answered with a 10-2 run that put them up 38-21 with under two minutes left in the quarter.

Pixton, who became the offense for Warden, opened the fourth with two of her team high 13 points. But in the end, the Cougars were cut short on offense by a sticky Lake Roosevelt defense that caused 18 turnovers for the game.

"We didn't show much patience and we didn't shoot the ball really well," Kisler said, explaining the difference between Wednesday's game and the meeting between the two teams at the beginning of the season.

On Thursday, the Cougars face White Swan, who lost to Colfax. Warden is 0-3 against the Cougars during the season and this time, the stakes are higher.

"e know what we are up against and our backs are against the wall and we can relax a lot more now," Kisler said. "We were tight today and I think we will come out with a lot more confidence tomorrow."

Lake Roosevelt 48, Warden 34

Lake Roosevelt (48) - Ro. St. Pierre 2, Marchand 14, Barry 6, Ives 8, Loe 8, Rh. St. Pierre 8 and James 2. Warden (34) - Stott 2, Kisler 7, Yamane 7, Pixton 13, Bates 2, Shuler 2 and Ruge 1.