Lydia Carr and Jaylie Parr both scored nine points for Whiteoak but is was not quite enough Wednesday as the Lady ‘Cats dropped a 37-33 non-conference decision to the Washington Lady Blue Lions.

Coming into the game, the Lady Blue Lions were averaging 39.7 points per game while the Wildcats were averaging 45.6 points per game.

A strong defensive performance from Washington propelled them to the victory, holding Whiteoak more than 12 points below its season average.

This first quarter ended with Washington holding a 10-6 lead.

Whiteoak made a free throw for the first point of the second quarter, and then Lady Lion sophomore Eliana Racine responded with a layup to make it 12-7. A three-point play by the Wildcats had them within two, but Racine ended that quickly with a mid-range jumper at the other end.

A reverse layup by Whiteoak was followed by a layup from Wall to keep the lead at four points. The final made field goal of the quarter was a three from Racine, giving Washington a 19-12 halftime lead.

The Wildcats began the second half on a 5-0 run before it was ended with a mid-range jumper from Racine. Two Whiteoak free throws had them down two, but another mid-range jumper from Racine got it back to four.

For the third straight sequence, two points from Whiteoak were answered with a mid-range jumper from Racine to keep the lead at four points. Back-to-back layups from the Wildcats tied it at 25 late in the half, before Washington regained the lead on a three from Racine, her ninth point of the quarter. The Lady Lions took the 28-25 lead into the final period.

Picking up where she left off, Racine knocked down a mid-range jumper for the first points of the fourth quarter. A three and a put back bucket from the Wildcats tied the game at 30 with 4:43 remaining in the contest.

Washington regained the lead with a free throw from Racine, and then a three from Whiteoak with 2:52 left gave them their first lead of the game.

The next four points came from Washington senior Calleigh Wead-Salmi, all at the free throw line. This gave the Lady Lions a 35-33 lead with just 1:40 to go.

After getting a defensive stop, Washington looked to make a long pass to Racine that went long. She sprinted after the ball and made the save before going out of bounds, finding senior Kaithlyn Maquiling under the basket for the layup and a two-possession lead.

With 35 seconds remaining, Whiteoak had several shot attempts that were unsuccessful, and Washington was able to secure a rebound with 2.4 seconds remaining. The Lady Lions were able to run out the rest of the clock to secure the victory.

“I thought our kids battled. We talk about grit a lot and we gritted it out tonight,” Washington coach John Denen said. “We only had a couple days to prepare for them and we have a kid out for the rest of the year, so we had to make some quick adjustments. I think that’s one of the best things we did, we made some in-game adjustments tonight.”

Washington (6-6, 3-2 in the Frontier Athletic Conference) will compete again on Jan. 6 at KIPP.

Whiteoak (8-3, 5-0 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference) was back in action on Jan. 4 against Peebles.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

WCH 10 9 9 9 — 37

WHIT 6 6 13 8 — 33

WASHINGTON — Kaithlyn Maquiling 1-0-2; Maggi Wall 2 (1)-0-7; Calleigh Wead-Salmi 0-4-4; Eliana Racine 6 (2)-1-19; Trinity George 0-0-0; Calee Ellars 1 (1)-0-5; Lilly Shaw 0-0-0. TOTALS — 10 (4)-5-37. Free throw shooting: 5 of 8 for 63 percent. Three-point field goals: Racine 2, Wall, Ellars. Turnovers 15. Rebounds 21 (2 offensive).

WHITEOAK — Molly McMullen 0-0-0; Kelsey Montieth 0-0-0; Brianna Hill 0-0-0; Kylee Hamm 1 (1)-0-5; Lydia Carr 4-1-9; Addy Roberts 1-3-5; Jaylie Parr 3 (1)-0-9; Torie Potts 2-1-5; Madison Thompson 0-0-0. TOTALS — 11 (2)-5-33. Free throw shooting: 5 of 11 for 45 percent. Three-point field goals: Hamm, Parr. Turnovers 16. Rebounds 21 (9 offensive).

Whiteoak wins jayvee game

In the jayvee contest, Washington lost to Whiteoak by a score of 33-21

Tyler Flora writes for the Record-Herald, a division of AIM Media Midwest, in Washington C.H.