Lady Wolverines fall short of trip to state

It has been proven many times that you should never count the Wolverines out until the absolute final buzzer, and the 2018-2019 Lady Wolverine basketball team demonstrated that fact once again.  
 The Lady Wolverines finished the regular season in a precarious fourth place, which required them to participate in a play-in game against the fifth place Payette Pirates to even qualify for the SRV District Tournament.  
 The Lady Wolverines defeated the Pirates to advance to bracket play, where they were pitted against the first place SRV team, Parma Panthers, but were unable to get past the hot shooters from Parma, dropping the game 49-26.  
 The loss routed the Wolverines into the consolation bracket where, albeit a longer route, a berth in the Idaho 3A State basketball tournament was still available. 
 The Wolverines were tasked with upsetting the Fruitland Grizzlies to make it to the runner-up game, and they managed to pull it off with a 38-30 win.
 The first quarter was full of missed opportunities for both squads with only 5 of 25 scoring attempts made. Weiser and Fruitland shot a dismal 15 percent and 25 percent, respectively, from the field and Maddy Erickson and Marissa Moyle were the only Wolverines to score and trailed the Grizzlies 7-5 after one period.
 The Lady Wolverines regrouped for the second period, and despite the hot hand of Richins of Fruitland, the Wolverines shooting proved to be hotter with Erickson and Abbey Shirts adding four points apiece, while Moyle added a basket and Sara Lundberg had a free throw.  
 The Wolverines managed to overtake the Grizzlies and headed into the halftime break with a 16-15 lead.
 Tough Fruitland defense inside the paint forced the Wolverines to shoot from behind the arc, and successful three-point buckets from Erickson, Lundberg and Shirts, coupled with a jumper from Moyle and a pair of free throws from Shirts kept the inspired Wolverine team ahead on the scoreboard 29-25.
 The Grizzlies struggled through the final period to bridge the gap and overtake the Wolverines, but the Weiser ladies never let down their guard, holding the Grizzlies to two baskets and a free throw. 
 Shirts added a basket from behind the arc and a pair of free throws and Moyle and Lundberg each added a field goal apiece to the score, enabling the Lady Wolverines to take the game 38-30 and one step closer to a state berth.
 Senior Abbey Shirts led her team with 14 points, followed by Maddy Erickson and Marissa Moyle, with 9 points apiece.  Sara Lundberg added 6 points for the Wolverines.
 The win against the Grizzlies advanced the Wolverines to the runner-up game against the Homedale Trojans and the Wolverines played hard and stayed with the Trojans throughout three periods, but the Wolverine full-court press that had proven so successful many times throughout the season wasn’t executed well.  
 Defensive woes coupled with an inability to find their mark offensively in the final period resulted in a 44-23 loss to the Trojans.
 Weiser Coach Nick Reed was very proud of his team, stating, “The girls worked really hard and made big improvements from last year to get only one game away from making it to state this year.”
 

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Signal American

18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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