Soap Lake girls swat, shoot down Odessa

SOAP LAKE - In spite of last Friday's blowout loss to state power Liberty Bell, the Soap Lake girls basketball team feels awfully good right now.

The Lady Eagles have won seven of their last nine games, including Tuesday's 43-29 non-league triumph over the Odessa Tigers. And - the 60-32 defeat to Liberty Bell not withstanding - Soap Lake head coach Tony Blankenship thinks his girls have what it takes to contend for one of the North Central League's two berths to state.

"I really feel it's like a three-team battle for that second spot right now," Blankenship said following the win over Odessa. "Liberty Bell is one of the top four teams in the state - there's no doubt about that. It's really between us, Bridgeport and Kittitas."

The Eagles improved their overall mark to 7-5 against Odessa by doing exactly what's been successful lately - playing hard-nosed defense and finding their shooting stroke.

Senior point guard Ariel Wernex was a catalyst for Soap Lake's offense, continually beating the Tigers in transition and setting up other players on the low blocks. Wernex scored 13 points and dished out seven assists, the majority of both coming in the first half to help Soap Lake build a 27-12 lead.

"She's been solid all year long," Blankenship said of Wernex. "She got the offense started early."

Wernex buried a 3-pointer from the right wing late in the first quarter, putting Soap Lake ahead 12-3. Her back-to-back fast-break lay-ups in the third quarter all but put the nail in Odessa's coffin, stretching the lead to 39-19.

But Soap Lake's size advantage in this game was a bigger key, Blankenship noted, and forwards Michelle Marthini, Chelsea Allen and Mercedes Franks consistently exploited it.

"I really didn't know much about (Odessa), being in a different league and all," the coach said. "Their size, we really noticed that right off the bat and tried to focus on that in some of our sets."

Allen finished with 13 points and five assists, while Marthini chipped in nine points.

Meanwhile, the Eagles' defense kept the Tigers from establishing any sort of rhythm. Odessa (3-9 overall) has struggled mightily on offense during its current seven-game losing streak, never scoring more than 30.

Soap Lake's confidence in mixing up its schemes - man-to-man, 2-3 zones and 1-2-2 zones - made things that much tougher. The Eagles kept the Tigers at bay inside, forcing a perimeter-oriented approach.

Senior Jordan Frederick has been the Tigers' most consistent scorer, but she managed only three points. Mariah Davison led the Tigers with nine points.

"The kids are really buying into that concept," Blankenship said of his defense. "We did what we pretty much wanted to do - we wanted to shut them down with our size and get things generated on our fast break."

While Odessa tries to bounce back on Friday with a 6 p.m. road game at Reardan, Soap Lake enters a two-game stretch that could define its season, for better or worse. The Eagles travel to Bridgeport on Friday at 6 p.m., then returns home to host Kittitas on Saturday at 6 p.m.

"That's one of our goals right now, is to finish in one of those top two spots in league to get that district bye."