Lady Broncos just miss against Liberty

Lind-Ritzville 36, Lady Lancers 40

RITZVILLE — The Lady Broncos played catch-up for most of the game and fell just short of a win against the Lady Lancers Tuesday.

Liberty opened up a 12-point lead on back-to-back buckets to begin the fourth quarter and then sent Schmunk to the line for a 1-for-2 stint that sparked a scoring drive for the Lady Broncos.

"Cassie Cole really sparked our offense," said Lind-Ritzville head coach Randy Heidenreich. "She always hustles for us and plays good defense."

Schmunk followed her trip to the line by earning a layup with help from Cain. Then it was Cain's turn, earning a point from the free-throw line to make it a 35-27 game.

Cole drained a pull-up 3 for Lind-Ritzville to cut the lead to five with four minutes to play.

With two minutes left in the game, Cole hit a pull-up jumper from the elbow to cut the Liberty lead to four and then halved it with a steal and layup, forcing a time out by the Lady Lancers with 1:38 left in the fourth quarter.

Liberty came out of the time out and fouled Cain who tied to the game at 36 after going 2-for-2 from the line.

"I'm proud of the way the girls tightened it up in the fourth quarter. We haven't had much late game practice," said Heidenreich. "The girls did a great job closing the gap."

The Lady Lancers answered with a quick basket to take a 2-point lead and extended it to 4 after Lind-Ritzville sent the Liberty to the line with four seconds remaining in the game.

The Lady Broncos were able to get the last shot but it was off the mark.

Liberty opened the second half with back-to-back buckets before Laura Cain found KyLee Schmunk under the hoop for a layup to cut the Lind-Ritzville deficit to 7.

Both teams went through a scoring drought that included four turnovers for the Lady Broncos and three fouls and a turnover for Liberty. It was the Lady Lancers that broke the dry spell first but Lind-Ritzville's Cassie Cole answered on the next possession with a layup to maintain the 7-point disparity between the two teams.

Cain ended the quarter by earning a putback after following her own shot in the paint to make it 31-23.

Outside shooting for Lind-Ritzville kept the game close early, when Cain and Cole earned back-to-back 3-balls for the Lady Broncos to end the first quarter. Cole's 3 gave Lind-Ritzville a brief 8-6 lead that was erased by two buckets for Liberty before the period ended.

The Lady Broncos continued to shoot well in the second with Schmunk and Cole earning a pair of baskets followed a minute later by another 3-pointer for Lind-Ritzville, this one coming from Tealah Sampson for the final field goal of the half.