O’NEILL — Victory tastes sweet when it is unexpected. The Plainview Lady Pirates tasted the sweet nectar of victory Thursday night, upsetting top-seed Elgin Public-Pope John 39 to 36 in the C2-8 Subdistrict finals.
Ahead for most of the game, the Wolfpack saw the lead slip away midway through the third quarter and couldn’t score when they needed it most, in the game’s final minutes.
Neither team got off to a fast start. Brittany Waldow scored first for the Pirates at the 2:20 mark of the first quarter. Nikki Beckman tossed in two bombs from three-point range and Jenna Parks added a free throw as the Wolfpack led 7 to 6 after one quarter. The Wolfpack added two more treys in the second quarter from Baylee Wemhoff and Liz Selting, then got two pointers from Hayley Stamp and Parks to give the Wolfpack a 19 to 15 lead at halftime. Keeping Plainview close was Caitlyn Hart who had six points in the quarter.
The Lady Pirates’ defense helped turn things around in the third quarter. They held the Wolfpack scoreless for nearly 7 1/2 minutes to start the second half. By the time Wemhoff sliced through the land to score and add a free throw for a three-point play, the Pirates had fought back to lead 25 to 22.
EPPJ fought back, cutting the lead to just two points when Jill Schindler got free inside for two points. Plainview answered with back-to-back baskets from Alicia Jensen to push the lead up to six points with 2:25 left in the game.
Two free throws by Nicole White gave Plainview a nine-point lead with 34 seconds to play. The Wolfpack answered back with treys from Wemhoff and Parks to cut the lead to four points with 15 seconds left in the game. After another made free throw by Plainview, Schindler scored and was fouled with just over a second to play in the game. With the score 39 to 36, Schindler intentionally missed a free throw, but the Wolfpack failed to get off a game-tying trey as the buzzer sounded.
In the final 90 seconds of the game, Plainview made seven of 10 free throws. Prior to that, they had made just six of 14.
To their credit, Plainview prevented the Wolfpack from getting good looks at the basket. Wemhoff led the Wolfpack with 11 points, Parks added 10.
Lady Pirates 39, Wolfpack 36
Plainview……………………………6 9 11 13 — 39
Wolfpack……………………………7 12 3 14 — 36
Wolfpack — Liz Selting 1-10 0-0 3, Jenna Parks 4-8 1-4 10, Nikki Beckman 2-7 0-0 6, Jordan Mescher 0-4 0-0 0, Jill Schindler 2-2 0-3 4, Baylee Wemhoff 4-8 1-3 11, Hayley Stamp 1-4 0-0 2. Team totals: 14-43 2-10 36. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 6 (Baylee Wemhoff 2, Nikki Beckman 2, Jenna Parks 1, Liz Selting 1).
Lady Pirates — Nikki Mosel 0 3-6 3, Nicole White 1 5-6 8, Brittany Waldow 4 0-1 8, Caitlyn Hart 2 5-10 10, Alicia Jensen 2 0-0 4, Catherine Williams 3 0-1 6. Team totals: 12-36 14-26 39. Three-point shots: Lady Pirates 1 (Caitlyn Hart 1).
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 30 (Liz Selting 11), Plainview 37. Assists — Wolfpack 7 (Liz Selting 2, Jenna Parks 2), Plainview 5. Steals — Wolfpack 6 (Liz Selting 2, Jenna Parks 2), Plainview 8. Turnovers — Wolfpack 17, Plainview 18.
