Lady Warriors beat Cougars; drop games to Coyotes and Eagles
MATTAWA — The Wahluke girls got past a determined Warden team 49-43, but came up on the short end of the scoreboard against Columbia-Burbank and Connell. The losses drop the Lady Warriors to 4-4 in East Conference action, 9-5 overall, and into fourth place in the league standings.
Team scoring leader Jacky Hidalgo set the pace for Wahluke with 19 points against the Cougars at home Jan. 9. Kaylynn Holiday added a double-double 14 points and 17 rebounds.
The game was a real donnybrook with the squads tied 9-all at the end of the first 8 minutes of action, and the Warriors up 20-17 at intermission. Warden inched closer with an 11-10 run in the third quarter, but it was Wahluke outscoring the visitors 19-15 in the fourth to pull out the win for the teams’ seventh consecutive victory on the hardwood.
The win came at a high cost however, as Holiday, the Lady Warriors leading rebounder went down with an injury.
“It was a really big win for us. The girls showed some grit and determination — I’m really proud of them” coach Brock Anderson said. “Unfortunately KK (Holiday) was injured with 12 seconds left after securing a loose ball. We led by three at the time and Alex Bangs, who was the real hero of the game, came off the bench to sink both KK’s free throws to secure the win.”
Holiday suffered a sprained knee and is out indefinitely.
“At least it’s not an ACL or MLC or something worse,” Anderson said. “We’re thankful for that.”
Holiday was sorely missed in the next two contests as the Warriors were blown out 63-29 Friday in road game at Columbia Burbank, and dropped a 62-38 contest in Connell Saturday.
“The game with Burbank was the first without Kaylynn, but her absence wasn’t the problem,” Anderson said. “We just made a lot of poor decisions, which were influenced by their quickness and intensity that we could not match. Easily our worst performance of the season.”
Despite the quick turn around game with Connell and having just lost their eraser on the boards, Anderson said he was quite impressed with the girl’s effort.
“They came out focused and determined, played probably our best zone defense of the year in the first quarter and really got after them. We caused a number of turnovers and went on to lead 20-8 halfway through the second quarter.”
But things “started to go south” shortly thereafter Anderson said.
“Connell got hot behind the three-point line and went on a 15-0 run to close the half. They continued hitting from long range (8-17 for the game) and we just couldn’t keep up.”
As the season winds down, Wahluke looks to get back on track and qualify for postseason play. The Warriors will get a chance to right the ship at home Friday when the Ki-Be Bears come calling. Tipoff is 6 p.m.