ONALASKA — The stakes were new for the Onalaska girls basketball team Thursday.
The methods weren’t, as the Loggers ground their way to a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Morton-White Pass 44-43 at Dennis Bower Court.
“We rarely play a pretty basketball game, but we’ve learned how to play with grit and a lot of heart,” Onalaska coach Alana Olson said “I’m really proud of their heart tonight.”
It was a matchup between two of the three teams currently vying for the Central 2B League’s last two spots into the district tournament. With the win, Onalaska — which finished dead last in the C2BL last season after a winless league campaign — all but wraps up its postseason spot with a game to play.
But going into the night, Olson said she didn’t try to shield her squad, which contains just two upperclassmen, from the pressure.
“It was something we talked about,” she said. “I think it’s important for the girls to know what they’re playing for each night, and honestly to appreciate the opportunity to play for something. We weren’t in that position last year.”
Thursday, the Loggers (9-10, 5-7 C2BL) lived up to that position. And in yet another close, low-scoring game, Onalaska thrived.
MWP went up by as many as six with five minutes to go, but the Loggers got to work, tying things up at 39-39 with two Jaycee Kinsman free throws with under 40 seconds left.
Onalaska got a stop at the other end, and with 22 seconds on the clock, the Loggers took over under their own basket.
They could have drained the clock for one last shot. Instead, they went fast.
“I told them that if we get the rebound, attack first, because I’d rather not call a timeout to let the defense set up, and to look for something early,” Olson said.
One pass got the ball past three T-Wolves, into the hands of Randi Haight at midcourt. Haight took one dribble and bounced a feed to Leah Hamilton, who beat the rest of the defense to the basket, making a go-ahead layup, drawing a foul and converting the old-fashioned three-point play.
“That was an amazing finish by an eighth grader,” Olson said.
Freshman Emalie Jacoby hit two key free throws on the Loggers’ next possession to make it a 44-40 game, and the two-possession lead became key when the T-Wolves dribbled a heave at the buzzer.
Jacoby led all scorers with 21 points, going 7 for 15 from the field and 6 for 11 from the line. She also had five steals, and while she only finished with two official assists, Olson relied on her freshman point guard to handle the lion’s share of the work breaking MWP’s press.
“One thing I love about Emalie is that she’s not looking to win the game by herself,” Olson said. “She’s going to hit whoever’s open, or she’s going to take it if it’s open for her. She definitely is going to do what she has to do for her team, and tonight she put us on her back in the fourth quarter.”
Kaiyah Sandridge pulled down nine rebounds to lead Onalaska on the boards.
Malia Armstrong led the T-Wolves with 17 points, while Natalia Armstrong added 10. The guests trailed at the end of each of the first three quarters, before hitting their best run early in the fourth to temporarily take control.
“We knew that it mattered to MWP too,” Olson said. “We knew that it was going to be an intense game, and it was. MWP, they played extremely hard as well.”
The Loggers host 1A Hoquiam Saturday, then wrap up the regular season against Adna next Wednesday.
Morton-White Pass is off until next week, when it plays three home league games — against Rainier, Toledo and Kalama — in four days. The T-Wolves sit a half game behind the Chinooks for the final district spot, and could have their postseason hopes come down to that final showdown against them in Morton on Saturday.
