This one had it all — especially for the Centralia fans.
Clutch free throws? Check. Comeback win? Check. Evergreen 2A Conference victory over rival Chehalis? Check, and check.
Inspirational message on the players’ arms in black marker? Check.
The Tigers — each with ‘Phil 4:13’ scrawled on their upper arms — got a heart-stopping 46-45 girls hoops win over W.F. West, courtesy of two Annnie Voetberg free throws with just 7 seconds left on the clock Tuesday night on Ron Brown Court in the Hub City.
The verse referred to in Sharpie? Philippians 4:13, “I can do anything through Him who gives me strength.”
“We all decided we needed a Bible verse,” said Voetberg, who scored 10 points on the night. “He came through for us. It was pretty cool.”
The outcome didn’t look nearly as promising for the Tigers (4-9, 2-5 league) in third quarter, when Ashleigh Cox hit a long jumper to put the Bearcats up 38-27.
Centralia countered by bringing in a secret weapon, of sorts, in sophomore Madison Creel. The JV-varsity swinger hit a 3-pointer to cut the Bearcat lead to 8 and closed out the quarter with another 3 to cut the deficit to 6 going into the fourth quarter.
“Her job was to get in there, and catch and shoot,” Centralia coach Mark Westley said. “It was maybe the magic we needed to get over the hump.”
Creel scored again to open the fourth quarter and cut the lead to 4. With the lead down to a point with 1 minute, 41 seconds left to play, she knocked down two free throws after being fouled on a 3-pointer to put the Tigers up for the first time since midway through the second quarter.
W.F. West quickly answered on a lay-in from Caitlin Linehan on a backdoor cut, and — after Megan O’Hara stole a Tiger inbounds pass — the Cats had a chance to make it a two-possession game but misfired on a pair of free throws with 16 seconds to play.
The Tigers, back on the offensive, got the ball to Voetberg, who was fouled trying to toss up a shot.
“We’d drawn that one up,” Westley said. “Annnie’s job was to turn the corner and attack the basket.”
The play put the Tiger point guard in something of a pressure situation: on the charity stripe with her team down a point, at home, to the rival Bearcats with 7 seconds to go.
“I was praying the whole time,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to let my team down.”
She knocked down the first one to tie it up and, after an ice-the-shooter time-out by the opposing bench, hit nothing but net on the second to put the Tigers back on top. W.F. West managed to get the ball up court, but couldn’t get a good look at the basket in the final seconds.
“Centralia did a great job of staying in the game,” W.F. West coach Henri Weeks said. “We gave up too many dribble-drives. The defense was not as solid as it usually is.”
The Tigers also managed to take advantage of dismal foul shooting from their opponents.
“When you go 5 for 14, and they go 12 for 17, that’s it,” Bearcat coach Henri Weeks said. “That’s the game.”
The Bearcats actually shot better from long range (6 of 11) than from the free-throw line, with Linehan knocking down three triples and Ryan Tahl coming off the bench to hit a pair early in the second quarter.
Linehan scored 12 of her team-high 17 points in the first half for W.F. West, and Caitlin Sande scored 17 to lead Centralia. Kaylee Hartman added 7 points and five rebounds for Chehalis, and Creel finished with 10 — all in the second half — for the Tigers.
“We played 32 minutes. There’s no quit in these girls at all,” Westley said. “They just played tough, tenacious basketball all game long.”
The Bearcats (8-5, 3-4 league) are at Black Hills, while Centralia hosts Tumwater, on Thursday.
