The Warriors open an early lead and weather the Knights’ second-quarter rally to take the 63-53 NWAC East Region victory.
WENATCHEE — Walla Walla frittered away a comfortable lead in the first half here Wednesday night, but regained control in the third quarter as the Warriors dispatched Wenatchee 63-53 in a Northwest Athletic Conference East Region women’s basketball game.
The Warriors came out of the locker room red-hot and bolted to a 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But the Knights responded in the second quarter and took a 29-28 lead into the intermission.
The third quarter looked much like the first as the visiting Warriors staged a counter rally and held a 49-37 advantage as the fourth quarter began.
The Knights never got closer than eight points after that.
“We were just really efficient in the first and third quarters,” WWCC coach Bobbi Hazeltine said. “We didn’t do anything different in the third quarter, and it wasn’t like Wenatchee figured anything out. We just couldn’t convert in the second quarter like we did in the first and third quarters.”
The Warriors began the game in their conventional man-to-man defense but switched to a half-court trap press after only a couple of possessions, Hazeltine said.
“Wenatchee starts three 6-footers and we couldn’t match up,” the coach said. “So we went to our half-court trap that we haven’t used in forever. And, gosh, we ran it so well. We got a lot of turnovers, a lot of steals and a lot of deflections, and we converted a lot of those into points.”
Point guard Jade Skidmore led the Warriors with 19 points. She also collected 10 rebounds and was credited with one assist and one steal.
Cierra Jo McKeown, the team’s leading scorer, was limited to 13 points and Teresa Acock, the Warriors’ other outside shooting threat, finished with seven. They were a combined 2-for-10 from 3-point distance and 8-for-17 from the field overall.
“Give Wenatchee credit, they did a nice job on Cierra Jo and Teresa and made them take some tough shots,” Hazeltine said. “But maybe they forgot about Jade, and she scored most of her points in the second half.”
Hazeltine also singled out sophomore post Adrianna Peralez, who scored 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting, garnered five rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
“Adrianna really played well,” Hazeltine said. “She got a ton of deflections on defense and gave us some offense as well. It was probably the best game she has ever played for us.”
Wenatchee’s Ashlynn Burgess was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points, and she also picked off a game-high 11 rebounds. Zaria Jones-Frost contributed 14 points, four assists and two steals.
Walla Walla improved to 2-0 in league games and 14-1 overall heading into a tough three-game week. The Warriors are at Big Bend Saturday, entertain Yakima Monday and travel to North Idaho next Wednesday for East Region games.
“It’s a really tough stretch,” Hazeltine said. “Two of those games are on the road and all three are against good teams. It’s a critical stretch, but we just have to take them one game at a time.”
Warriors 63, Knights 53
WALLA WALLA (63) — McKeown 5-11 2-2 13, Acock 3-6 0-0 7, Skidmore 6-14 6-6 19, Turner 2-3 0-2 4, Peralza 5-10 0-0 10, Hutchison 1-5 2-2 4, Radford 0-0 0-0 0, Gunter 0-2 0-0 0, Renfro 0-1 0-0 0, Bowen 0-0 0-0 0, Dietrich-Denton 3-8 0-0 6. Totals 25-60 10-12 63.
WENATCHEE (53) — Jones-Frost 6-14 2-2 14, Denton 1-12 0-0 3, Shapp 2-9 0-0 4, Houser 3-5 1-2 7, Burgess 8-15 4-5 20, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0, Watts 1-4 0-0 2, Creighton 1-2 1-1 3, Uschmann 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 8-10 53.
Walla Walla2352114—63
Wenatchee1118816—53
3-point goals — WWCC 3-13 (McKeown 1-6, Acock 1-4, Skidmore 1-3), Wenatchee 1-19 (Jones-Frost 0-2, Denton 1-8, Shapp 0-3, Burgess 0-3, Watts 0-3). Total fouls — Wenatchee 15, WWCC 13. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Wenatchee 34 (Burgess 11), WWCC 33 (Skidmore 10). Turnovers — WWCC 15, Wenatchee 8. Assists — WWCC 8 (McKeown 5), Wenatchee 8 (Jones-Frost 4).
Union Bulletin
