Cheney fades against Ferris

CHENEY - In the third quarter of their Greater Spokane League opener against Ferris on Jan. 4, the Cheney girls quickly turned a 30-25 Saxon halftime lead into an early fourth-quarter tie.

Then twice in the final quarter Cheney had leads of four points.

But in the final 149 seconds Ferris broke from a 44-44 tie with a 9-0 run that sunk Cheney with a disappointing 53-44 loss.

"Unfortunately, we let down a little defensively and fell back into bad habits with not taking care of the ball while Ferris started hitting more shots from the outside," head coach Meredith Richards said.

Cheney (0-1 GSL, 3-8 overall) got its usual strong performance from Macey Richards with 16 points, the only Blackhawk in double figures. She added 11 rebounds for a double-double - her sixth of the season.

Richards pointed to another pair of notable players.

"Kayelee Kohlman helped on the outside with 7 points and 3 assists followed by Allison Vold with 6 points and three rebounds," Richards said. "Every one of our players that touched the court that night contributed to the score, that is awesome to see."

After a slow start, compounded by 10 turnovers in the first quarter the Blackhawks trailed 20-11. Cheney found its rhythm in the second quarter to close within a point at 20-19 and was down 30-25 at the break.

"We came out of halftime ready to play," Richards said of the third quarter where Cheney led at one point by three but trailed 36-34 going into the final 8 minutes.

Cheney led 42-38 with just under five minutes to play before Ferris (1-0, 5-5) embarked on what would be a 15-2 finish.

"Even with a loss, this is the most put together game we have played as a team this year," Richards said. "Hopefully we will be more consistent from tip off and show some more of what we can do in our two GSL league games this week against Prep and CV."

The Blackhawks hosted Gonzaga Prep (1-0, 8-3) on Jan. 9 and travel to Central Valley (1-0, 8-3 for a 5:30 p.m. game on Jan. 12.