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Pirates lose District opener
The Prairie Lady Pirates found points hard to come by in their District Tournament opener as they lost 19-25 to Clearwater Valley on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at Lewiston. 
Prairie was shut out in the first quarter but thanks to their defensive efforts trailed just 0-6. They were behind 0-8 with 5 minutes left in the half when coach Dave Snodgrass inserted sophomore point guard Ashley Jackson and moved point guard Kayla Holthaus over to the wing. The move paid immediate dividends as Jackson picked up a quick assist passing over to Holthaus who scored from just inside the 3-point arc to put Prairie on the board. After a C.V. basket, Jackson was fouled on a drive to the hoop and scored one of the two free throws. She then passed over to Holthaus again for a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 6-10. Natalie Arnzen then closed out the scoring in the half with a putback of her own missed shot to make it 8-10 at halftime. Prairie again struggled to score in the third quarter but were at least putting up shots. In the first half they attempted just 15 shots but doubled that total in the third quarter. Unfortunately only one of those 15 attempts found the basket and that was on a putback by Holthaus with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. Holthaus scored again with Jackson again picking up the assist, to open the fourth quarter and pull the Pirates within 2 at 12-14. C.V. answered with a lay-up on an inbounds play but Prairie again pulled within 2 when Holthaus found Arnzen open inside for a turnaround jumper. C.V.’s Carrie Thompson then hit a big 3-point shot to make the lead 5 points. Other than that 3-pointer, Prairie did a great job shutting down Thompson who had scored 23 and 24 points in the regular season games but just 6 points this time. C.V. added a free throw to push the lead to 6. Holthaus answered with a basket from the perimeter but C.V. also scored. Arnzen then banked in a 3-point shot, the first time all season Prairie had two 3-pointers in a game, to cut the lead to 3 with 1:27 left. That was all for Prairie though as C.V. closed out the scoring with 3 free throws. Just 3 Prairie players scored with Holthaus scoring 11, Arnzen 7 and Jackson 1. Prairie played well on the boards, outrebounding C.V. 39-28 with Arnzen collecting 12 rebounds and Lacey Wargi 9. Holthaus had 3 steals and Jackson had 3 assists. Prairie hit just 8 of 45 shots in the game, 18%, and 1 of 6 free throws. C.V. was 8 for 33 from the field, 24%, and 7 for 12 at the line. Prairie 0 8 2 9 -19 C.V. 6 4 4 11 -25 Prairie-Long 0-5, 0-2, 0; Wargi 0-10, 0-0, 0; Holthaus 5-10, 0-0, 11; Wassmuth 0-2, 0-2, 0; Arnzen 3-12, 0-0, 7; Enneking 0-3, 0-0, 0; Sonnen 0-1, 0-0, 0; Jackson 0-2, 1-2, 1. 3-pointers-Holthaus, Arnzen. C.V.-Niles 3-8, 2-2, 9; Lane 1-4, 1-4, 3; Lyons 2-6, 1-2, 5; Thompson 2-13, 1-2, 6; Foster 0-0, 0-0, 0; Andrews 0-0, 2-2, 2; Caldwell 0-2, 0-0, 0; Graham 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Niles, Thompson. Lady Pirates edge Kamiah in double overtime The Prairie Lady Pirates stayed alive in the District Tournament with a double overtime win over Kamiah, 29-23, Saturday, Feb. 7 at Lewiston. Although Prairie led most of the way, they still struggled to score with their defense keeping them in the game.  Kamiah
scored first in the game but Prairie tied it on a shot from the elbow by
Natalie Arnzen.
Kamiah came right back to take the lead again on a free throw but Arnzen converted a pair of free throws with 4:18 left in the first quarter for a 4-3 Prairie lead. That was all the scoring for the first quarter with Kamiah retaking the lead early in the second as Shelly Williams stole the ball and drove downcourt for a lay-up. The Prairie defense then clamped down on the Kubs as that was their only score of the quarter. Prairie tied the scored on a free throw by Lacey Wargi with 6:35 left in the half and that 5-5 score stayed on the board for over 4 minutes until Bridget Enneking connected on a free throw with 2:26 left in the half. About a minute later Briget Long forced a jump ball that gave Prairie possession and Ashley Jackson drove into the lane and passed to long on the low block for a lay-up that gave Prairie and 8-5 lead at the half. Wargi finally found her shooting touch after missing her first 12 shots in the tournament, and connected on a pair of shots in the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 12-5. After a Kamiah basket, Long hit a pair of free throws and after Kamiah scored a pair at the line, Long hit another pair of free throws to five Prairie a 16-9 lead going into the fourth quarter. Only lukewarm shooting the ball to that point, Prairie went ice-cold in the fourth quarter, missing their first 8 shots while Kamiah came back to tie the score at 16 each with 4:06 left to play. Prairie took the lead back when Long, in the high post, spotted Wargi open under the basket for a lay-up. With 1:46 left Kamiah tied the score on a perimeter shot by Michael Doyle. Kamiah nearly won the game a bit later when Williams drained a 3-pointer but Kamiah’s coach had called timeout and it was granted just before Williams released the shot, leaving the score tied. Prairie had a chance to end it in regulation as they had the ball with 12 seconds left after Long rebounded a Kamiah miss, but couldn’t get an open shot and Kayla Holthaus’ desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed. Holthaus scored to open the overtime period but Kamiah took the lead on a 3-pointer by Williams. Long tied the score with a free throw and then put Prairie ahead with 2 more free throws with 16 seconds left. 
Kamiah forced a second overtime when Dani Wimer hit from just inside the free throw line with 2 seconds left. Prairie controlled the second overtime as Arnzen put the Pirates ahead for good with a free throw after making a steal. Another Kamiah turnover led to a putback by Wargi with 2:01 left. Prairie limited the Kubs to just 3 shots in the second overtime and forced 6 turnovers. Wargi extended the lead to 5 with one of those turnovers as she stole the ball after Kamiah had made a defensive rebound and scored a lay-up to make it 28-23 with 25 seconds left. Holthaus added a free throw for the final point as Prairie shut Kamiah out in the final overtime. Wargi wound up as the leading scorer for Prairie with 11 points with Long scoring 9 as she went 7 for 8 at the free throw line. Arnzen scored 5, Holthaus 3 and Enneking 1. Prairie had a slim 44-42 rebounding edge led by Wargi who had 14 with Long grabbing 8 boards and Holthaus 7. Wargi had 4 steals while Jackson, Karel Wassmuth and Long had 3 each. Prairie was 8 for 42 from the field, 19%, and 13 for 26 at the line while Kamiah was 9 for 48 from the field, 19%, and 3 for 9 at the line. Prairie 4 4 8 2 5 6 -29 Kamiah 3 2 4 9 5 0 -23 Prairie-Long 1-4, 7-8, 9; Wargi 5-11, 1-4, 11; Holthaus 1-10, 1-5, 3; Wassmuth 0-5, 0-0, 0; Arnzen 1-6, 3-6, 5; Enneking 0-2, 1-2, 1; Dahlen 0-0, 0-0, 0; Jackson 0-2, 0-1, 0; Sonnen 0-1, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-none. Kamiah-Wimer 1-7, 3-4, 5; Uhlorn 1-13, 0-2, 2; Williams 4-20, 0-1, 10; Jones 0-0, 0-0, 0; Lineberry 1-1, 0-2, 2; Nelson 0-3, 0-0, 0; Doyle 2-4, 0-0, 4; Knuteson 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Williams 2. Potlatch ends Lady Pirates' season The Prairie Lady Pirates basketball season came to an end Monday, February 9 when they were eliminated from the District Tournament by Potlatch, 33-44 at Lewiston. Prairie played well in a couple of stretches during the game but had too many times when they couldn’t hang onto the ball on offense and committed too many fouls on defense. The whole first quarter was one of those bad stretches. Potlatch went to the line for 9 free throw attempts in the quarter, converting 7 of them as they jumped out to a 2-12 lead. Brigit Long scored on a putback with a second to play in the quarter and that seemed to get the Pirates going. They started the second quarter in a full court press and played the first two minutes of the quarter on their end of the floor as they pulled within a point at 11-12. Bridget Enneking hit 3 of 4 free throws to start the run and Natalie Arnzen and Lacey Wargi each scored baskets that resulted from steals by Kayla Holthaus. Prairie then committed their 7th foul of the half, and Potlatch’s first trip over the halfcourt line in the quarter was made by the referee for bonus free throws. That sparked Potlatch on a 0-8 run and the Loggers led 17-23 at the half. Potlatch came out strong in the third quarter hitting 7 of their first 9 shots as they outscored Prairie 2-14 to take a 19-37 lead. Prairie then came to life as Vanessa Sonnen hit a baseline shot and Long scored a lay-up on an inbounds play. Sonnen then hit a 3-pointer from the corner on another inbounds play and Long closed out the quarter with a putback that cut the lead to 28-37. Potlatch opened the fourth quarter with a basket but Long scored another putback and Wargi connected on a free throw to cut the lead to 8 with 3:29 to play. That was as close as Prairie would get though as they couldn’t get their shots to drop the rest of the way with the only score coming on another putback by Long. Long wound up as the leading scorer with 12 points with Wargi, Enneking and Sonnen each scoring 5, Arnzen 4 and Holthaus 2. Despite getting badly outrebounded in the first quarter, Prairie wound up trailing the Loggers on the boards just 35-36. Long had 11 rebounds with half of those on the offensive end. Enneking added 8 rebounds. Holthaus had 6 steals and Long had 4 while Enneking had 4 assists. Prairie was 13 for 49 from the field, 27%, and 4 for 10 at the line while Potlatch was 15 for 40 from the field, 38%, and 12 for 23 at the line. With the loss, Prairie ends their season at 9-14. Prairie 4 13 11 5 -33 Potlatch 12 11 14 7 -44 Prairie-Long 6-16, 0-2, 12; Wargi 2-6, 1-4, 5; Holthaus 1-8, 0-0, 2; Wassmuth 0-1, 0-0, 0; Arnzen 2-5, 0-0, 4; Enneking 1-7, 3-4, 5; Jackson 0-1, 0-0, 0; Sonnen 2-6, 0-0, 5; Merrill 0-0, 0-0, 0; Tacke 0-0, 0-0, 0; Dahlen 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Sonnen. Potlatch-Poesy 5-8, 0-2, 10; Reynolds 1-8, 5-6, 7; Sheffler 2-2, 0-2, 4; Alsterlund 3-10, 6-9, 14; Hoidal 2-7, 1-2, 5; Gunderson 1-2, 0-0, 2; Kramer 0-1, 0-0, 0; Alexander 1-1, 0-0, 2; Lisher 0-1, 0-2, 0. 3-pointers-Alsterlund 2. |
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