If the Cheney High girls basketball team is to find its way back into the win column, it will have to come when it matters most — in the playoffs.
The Lady Blackhawks dropped their fourth and fifth straight games in Great Northern League action last week. Cheney lost a slugfest to visiting Pullman last Tuesday, getting outscored 27-20 in the final eight minutes as the Greyhounds broke a 47-all tie at the end of the third quarter and cruised to a 74-67 win.
Friday, the Lady Blackhawks did all they could to rebound from a slow start, being outscored 18-4 in the fourth quarter at Clarkston. Cheney won every frame from then on, and had the ball with four seconds remaining in the game and down by two, but couldn’t get a “basketball play to go our way’ assistant coach Roxie Smith said, falling 53-51 to the second-seeded Bantams in the regular season finale.
Maggie Smith led Cheney in scoring in both games. The sophomore guard had 16 points at Clarkston and 15 against Pullman, with senior forward Hailee Huff adding 13 points in both games. Sophomore forward Shelby Draper added 11 points against fifth-seeded Pullman.
Cheney ends the season with a 3-9 mark in the GNL, 7-13 overall. The Lady Blackhawks enter the playoffs this week with the No. 4 seed, and traveled to Millwood on Wednesday to face No. 3 West Valley (4-8, 9-11) in a loser-out first round game.
“Records don’t matter now,” Roxie Smith said. “Everybody is zero and zero.”
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
Hawks Box
Pullman 12 15 20 27 – 74
Cheney 10 20 17 20 – 67
Smith 15, B. Draper 6, Flynn 7, Lemelin 6, Huff 13, Pemberton 3, Loffredi 2, Potter 2, Evans 1, S. Draper 11, Deatherage 0
Cheney 4 15 15 14 – 51
Clarkston 18 11 14 10 – 53
Smith 16, B. Draper 2, Flynn 8, Lemelin 0, Huff 13, Pemberton 8, Loffredi 0, Potter 0, Evans 1, S. Draper 3
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