Lady Huskies battle through adversity to finish seventh

TACOMA - Every team wants to be playing its best basketball at the end of the season.

Unfortunately for the Othello Lady Huskies, a variety of reasons kept them from doing so in Saturday's season finale against the Pullman Greyhounds at the 2A state tournament.

Pullman was the beneficiary of 27 turnovers, limited the Huskies to 24 percent shooting and held Othello to its lowest point total of the season, winning 39-35 at the Tacoma Dome to claim the fourth-place trophy.

Othello (23-5) had to settle for seventh place, a somewhat disappointing finish after the Huskies won 18 straight games and took their first-ever Central Washington Athletic Conference title.

But capping the program's first-ever state tournament appearance with a trophy was something the girls would like to build on for next season.

"It would've been nice to end the year on a win," said sophomore forward Kylee Mollotte, "but we'll take it because this is our first time here and it's just a good stepping stone for next year."

The Lady Huskies lose only two seniors next year, and return four starters in Mollotte, Chantal Guzman, Christine Kirkwood and Allison Walker.

The season's last game was an ugly one for Pullman and Othello in terms of turnovers and missed shots. The teams combined for 48 turnovers, 27 by Othello, and the Greyhounds shot 25 percent from the floor - one percent better than the Huskies.

"Both teams had bad shooting, both teams had a ton of turnovers, both teams just didn't seem like they were playing their game today," Huskies coach Doug Boyer said. "I know we weren't."

Part of Othello's problem was a lingering flu virus that hampered the Kirkwood sisters, Christine and Courtney. Both sat the bench for much of the first half and neither was a factor, combining for eight points and six rebounds.

"It just didn't look like they were in their flow," Boyer said, "and I was just trying to find five girls to get the flow going.

"It's the fourth day (of the tournament) and everybody's tired," he added. "I think that game boiled down to the last team that was going to have the last run."

Pullman had the crucial final run, getting five straight points from senior post Jessica Thomas in the last 86 seconds. Thomas scored on a backdoor layup in the final 30 seconds, and after an Othello turnover, iced the win with a free throw.

The Huskies trailed by as many as 11 in the first half, but slowly worked their way back into contention because of Walker. The 6-foot-1 junior singlehandedly kept Othello close, finishing with 20 points, 15 rebounds, six steals and four blocked shots.

"She is such a tremendous asset to our team and without her we wouldn't do as well as we did," Mollotte said.

The Huskies trailed the entire game until Mollotte stopped and popped a 3-pointer with five minutes left. Walker gave them their first lead moments later with a pull-up jumper from 12 feet, then put them in front for the last time with a free throw at the 1:47 mark.

"The last two minutes was basically trying to get the ball into Allison's hands because they were fouling a lot," Boyer said.

The Huskies did a solid job defensively, especially on Pullman's big frontcourt. Shelby Cheslek, a 6-3 freshman and Kirsi Voshell, a 6-2 senior, had only four combined points on 2 of 12 shooting.

But Thomas and senior forward Anna Albrecht, who scored a team-high 12 points, accounted for just enough offense to give Pullman an edge.

Othello outrebounded Pullman 45-41, but the Greyhounds had sizable advantages in three key categories - bench points (15-0), second-chance points (17-6) and points off turnovers (15-8).

After playing four games in four days, the Lady Huskies could be forgiven for showing some fatigue.

"We had our ups and downs, but we got a lot of rest," Mollotte said. "It's tough playing four in a row, but we pulled it off, and I think we did pretty well for our first time here."

Othello 58, West Valley 38

On Friday, the Huskies remembered one key aspect of their game that was missing from Thursday's quarterfinal loss to Ellensburg - boxing out.

Othello outrebounded the Eagles 47-32 and limited them to 25 percent shooting from the floor. The Huskies went on a 10-0 run to end the first half and led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

"It was just that aspect of we were going to play a tight 2-3 (zone defense), let Allison roam the middle, let them shoot 3-pointers and concentrate on boxing out and rebounding," Boyer said.

"That was basically the same thing we did (against Ellensburg), but this time we figured out the boxing-out aspect."

Facing a must-win situation was nothing new to these Huskies, who had to bounce back from two early-season losses in conference play and a first-round district loss to Prosser.

"In the locker room before, I told the girls, 'You've been in this situation before,'" Boyer said. "Since we were in a loser-out situation, it was, 'Hey, we want to get a trophy, so let's get out there and win.'"

No one keyed the victory more than Walker, who destroyed West Valley with a 21-point, 18-rebound effort. Eight of her boards were at the offensive end, and she added five of the team's 11 steals.

Earning a state trophy was the fuel behind Walker's performance, right? Wrong.

"We told her if she down pulled 20 rebounds tonight, we'd get her an E-Z Bake Oven," Boyer said, laughing.

West Valley missed 18 of its 22 field-goal tries in the opening half, though some sloppy ball-handling on the Huskies' part kept the Eagles in it. That changed late in the half when Walker and Courtney Kirkwood took over. Walker scored six straight points, converting on a putback, an 18-foot jumper and two free throws.

The surge put Othello ahead 25-11 at the break and was the precursor to a big third quarter. Tiffany Martinez hit two fouls shots to bring the lead to 20, and an 8-0 run capped by a Martinez layup gave the Huskies their biggest lead at 43-16.

The Huskies were sharp at the foul line, converting on 17 of 21 attempts (81 percent). Courtney Kirkwood had 18 points, eight boards and three steals, while Christine Kirkwood and Mollotte added eight and seven points, respectively.

West Valley freshman Hannah Love scored 18 - the only Eagle with more than six - and took more than a quarter of her team's shots.

Pullman 11 13 6 9 -39

Othello 6 15 4 10 -35

PULLMAN (39): Druffel 2-7 0-0 5, Voshell 1-9 0-0 2, Thomas 2-5 3-4 7, Sterk 0-0 0-0 0, Byrne 0-0 0-0 0, Levenseller 1-2 0-0 2, Hodge 0-5 1-2 1, Cheslek 1-3 0-0 2, Brown 2-10 0-0 5, Guettinger 0-5 2-2 2, Walker 0-2 1-4 1, Albrecht 6-12 0-0 12. Totals 15-60 7-12 39.

OTHELLO (35): Mollotte 1-6 4-8 7, Guzman 0-2 0-2 0, Montes 0-0 0-0 0, Co. Kirkwood 3-10 0-0 6, Walker 7-15 6-9 20, Ch. Kirkwood 0-4 2-3 2, Juarez 0-1 0-0 0, E. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, L. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, Villarreal 0-6 0-0 0, Quezada 0-0 0-0 0, Martinez 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 11-46 12-22 35.

3-pointers: Pullman 2-21 (Druffel 1-6, Hodge 0-3, Brown 1-7, Guettinger 0-5), Othello 1-5 (Mollotte 1-2, Co. Kirkwood 0-1, Ch. Kirkwood 0-1, Villarreal 0-1). Rebounds: Pullman 41 (Albrecht 6, Voshell 6), Othello 45 (Walker 15). Assists: Othello 3, Pullman 8 (Druffel 3). Blocked shots: Pullman 4 (Voshell 2, Cheslek 2), Othello 4 (Walker 4). Steals: Pullman 14 (Druffel 3, Hodge 3), Othello 11 (Walker 6). Total fouls: Pullman 24, Othello 13. Technical fouls: None. Turnovers: Pullman 21, Othello 27.

West Valley 6 5 11 16 -38

Othello 11 14 20 13 -58

WEST VALLEY (38): Schoesler 0-4 0-2 0, Carey 1-5 0-0 3, Cato 1-2 0-0 2, Sodorff 0-4 0-0 0, Peterson 0-2 0-0 0, Nordby 1-2 0-0 2, Eagle tail 1-1 0-0 2, Mauro 2-11 0-0 4, Finn 0-2 1-2 1, Hjortedal 0-0 0-0 0, Nilles 1-11 4-4 6, Love 8-16 0-3 18. Totals 15-60 5-11 38.

OTHELLO (58): Mollotte 4-7 0-1 8, Guzman 0-0 0-0 0, Montes 0-0 0-0 0, Co. Kirkwood 5-9 8-10 18, Walker 8-19 5-6 21, Ch. Kirkwood 2-5 2-2 7, Juarez 0-2 0-0 0, E. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, L. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, Villarreal 0-2 0-0 0, Quezada 0-0 0-0 0, Martinez 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 20-46 17-21 58.

3-pointers: West Valley 3-21 (Schoesler 0-2, Carey 1-3, Sodorff 0-2, Peterson 0-1, Finn 0-1, Nilles 0-4, Love 2-8), Othello 1-5 (Co. Kirkwood 0-1, Ch. Kirkwood 1-3, Martinez 0-1). Rebounds: West Valley 32 (Mauro 6), Othello 47 (Walker 18, Co. Kirkwood 8). Assists: West Valley 6 (Nilles 3), Othello 9 (Mollotte 3, Walker 3). Blocked shots: West Valley 2, Othello 2. Steals: West Valley 8 (Mauro 2, Carey 2), Othello 11 (Walker 5, Co. Kirkwood 3). Total fouls: West Valley 18, Othello 14. Technical fouls: None. Turnovers: West Valley 18, Othello 25.