The game was not close throughout the first-half as Billings opened up a 14-point lead on a tired Lady Owls team.
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“I’m extremely proud of our girls because that was our third game in four days,” said Spokane coach Tom Colvin. “You could kind of tell early in the first half that we didn’t have quite the energy, but we went in at halftime and talked about just leaving it on the floor.”
Leading at halftime 37-23, the Lady Wildcats seemed to have the game in hand. When the second half started, the Lady Wildcats were plagued by missed shots and turnovers caused by the Spokane defense. When Billings junior Maci Saxe received her fifth foul with two minutes to go in the third quarter, the Lady Wildcats had seen their lead dwindle to just three, 39-36.
“I think that we kind of get ahead of ourselves and we rush each other, and then we just throw the ball away,” said Billings senior Andrea Begley. “When we throw the ball away, we get down on our defense. If we’re scoring, then we’re good on our defense, but if we are not scoring, then we’re not too good on defense.”
The fourth quarter would start with the Lady Wildcats holding a precarious six point lead. Under the leadership of junior Kylie Wright, the Lady Owls would make a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter.
“We played really good defense tonight, especially in the second half, and I’m really proud of our effort,” said Wright. “We came back from 14 down and actually took the lead but the odds just weren’t in our favor.”
The Lady Owls would take the lead, 45-43, on Tayler Murray’s put-back of Ryleigh Maples’ missed free throw at the 4:52 mark. The lead would continue to swap between the two until Billings sophomore Sierra Wilson put the Lady Wildcats up three with 1:18 left to go, making the score 52-49. Maples would then hit a deep three-pointer to tie the score with 1:03 left.
Billings would miss its opportunity to take the lead, giving Spokane the ball and a chance to win the game. Colvin elected not to use his timeout and instead decided to go for the last shot. An errant pass and a steal by Billings gave the Lady Wildcats the ball with the score still tied and 11.7 seconds to go.
Billings would dribble the length of the floor but was denied the shot they wanted. Instead, the first-year player Young was wide open underneath the bucket, and sophomore Sierra Wilson hit her with the pass. Young would score the game winner, 54-52.
Billings would dribble the length of the floor but was denied the shot they wanted. Instead, the first-year player Young was wide open underneath the bucket, and sophomore Sierra Wilson hit her with the pass. Young would score the game winner, 54-52.
“Tonight it was Alyssa that went in there and won it for us when she made the winning shot. I’m pretty proud of her,” said Begley.
“I’m just proud of our girls and how they came back. They played hard and I couldn’t ask much more of them,” said Colvin. “I give Billings credit, they made the plays down the stretch. It was just a great game. “
Billings 15 22 5 12 -54
Spokane 10 13 13 16 -52
Billings—Shondra Davis-18, Stephanie Bos-12, Andrea Begley-11, Sierra Wilson-5, Alyssa Young-5, Maci Saxe-3.
Spokane—Tayler Murray-19, Ryleigh Maples-14, Kylie Wright-12, Sabrina Lator-6, Sadie Byrom-1.
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