Western Mennonite’s Brittney Freeman (12) eyes the basket in the Regis vs. Western Mennonite girl’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.
Free throws became a necessary point of emphasis for the Pioneers.
After losing close games early in the season in part due to missed free throws, Western Mennonite High school’s No. 4-ranked girls basketball team put a large part of its focus in practice on free throws.
The team will run one drill in practice then shoot free throws and repeat that cycle over and over for the entirety of practice.
The work paid dividends Wednesday night.
Western Mennonite was 19 of 26 from the line, including 9 of 11 in the final 2:05, to beat No. 6-ranked Regis 60-52 in a Tri-River Conference playoff game.
“In practice this last week we shot 1,000 free throws, and that’s not an exaggeration,” said senior Maddie Hopper, who was 12 of 13 from the free-throw line on her way to scoring 21 points.
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“I think it was really important for us to nail those free throws during the game. Our hard work paid off, and that showed at the end of the game. We just kept driving and kept working together.”
Western Mennonite (19-6) advances to play No. 1-ranked Kennedy at 5 p.m. Saturday at Crescent Valley in the championship game of the league tournament, while Regis (18-7) moves on to play St. Paul at noon Saturday for third place.
But more importantly for a Western Mennonite team striving for its second straight Class 2A state championship, it guarantees the team a spot in the state playoffs.
“I think it’s important for our team mentality just to have confidence in ourselves, especially if we’re going into state playoffs,” said Madison Hull, who was 5 of 6 from the line and scored 18 points.
Western Mennonite’s Maddie Hopper (11) shoots the ball in the Regis vs. Western Mennonite girl’s basketball game at Western Mennonite High School on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.
“We haven’t made it to Pendleton yet. And I think that this Kennedy game is going to be a real confidence booster, especially for some of our younger players who haven’t quite got there yet.”
Regis was hot early from 3-point range – including Ashtyn Chamberland hitting three 3-pointers in the first quarter – and the Rams led 15-12 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
But Western Mennonite extended its defense to the perimeter – switching from a triangle-and-two to match-up zone – went on a 13-0 run to go up 25-15 with 6:18 left in the half and never again trailed.
“I think that it was a matter of us getting into our groove and just feeding off the energy of the crowd because they started going and we started going,” said senior Brittney Freeman, who scored nine points. “We took it and ran.”
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As Western Mennonite tired in the fourth quarter, Regis got hot from outside, and Abigail Frith’s 3-pointer with 1:56 left cut the Pioneers’ lead to 53-49 with 1:56 left.
But the Pioneers hit free throws at a frustrating pace in the final minutes to clinch the win.
“Injuries and sickness have kind of decimated our program a little bit at the moment, but we won a state championship last year with six girls so we know how to adjust,” Western Mennonite coach Robby Gilliam said.
“Conventional wisdom is to not condition before games. We ran for two and a half hours yesterday to get them ready, so we’re doing everything we can to condition these girls and make sure they’re in the best shape of their lives. Yeah, they’re tired, but they’re ready for it.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
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Western Mennonite 60, Regis 52
Regis: Abigail Frith 15, Chamberland 14, Koehnke 11, VanVeen 8, Dickey 4, Rickman, Moll. Totals 21 2-7 52.
Western Mennonite: Maddie Hopper 21, Hull 18, Freeman 9, Louthan 5, Pack 4, Mansour 3, Hess. Totals 19 19-26 60.
|
REG |
15 |
13 |
11 |
13 |
— 52 |
|
WM |
19 |
13 |
11 |
17 |
— 60 |
3-point goals: Regis 8 (Chamberland 4, Koehnke 3, Frith); Western Mennonite 3, (Hopper, Hull, Mansour).