ADNA — Chris Bannish and his right-hand man on the bench Casey Dotson had the same feeling. Late in the third quarter, those two witnessed the Adna High School girls basketball team start to reel.
The defensive execution was dropping off and an 11-point cushion was erased. All the momentum was gone. And a foul call on Neah Bay’s Qwaapeys Greene’s 3-pointer early in the fourth gave it a one-point advantage.
“We’re in trouble,” Bannish stated.
One defensive change and clutch shots was all the Pirates needed to flip the script.
Fueled by a 10-0 scoring run and McKenna Torrey coming alive in the final eight minutes, Adna pieced together a triumphant 54-49 verdict over the Red Devils in the penultimate game of the Adna Holiday Hoops Tournament on Tuesday night.
Held to four points in the first half, Torrey found her shot in the second with three 3s and tallied the final seven points for Adna from the free throw line. She finished with a game-high 24 and also contributed three steals.
The second of her back-to-back triples in the midst of the Pirates’ 10-0 spree was a fadeaway bank shot.
“I did not think that was going in,” Torrey said with a smile. “From the work I put in and knowing I have to step up this year.”
With graduation hitting Adna (9-1) harder than most Class 2B teams, more responsibility was put on Torrey’s shoulders. She already was tasked with defending an opponent’s top guard, but has now been one of the Pirates’ leading scorers.
Bannish admitted Torrey and Rhylee Beebe have had to be a top defender, then proceed to be top offensive options. Beebe chipped in 16 points and four assists.
“I’ve been able to put the better defenders on the better (players) and save my offense with legs,” Bannish said.
The emergence of Alyssa Carroll and Ava Humphrey has lifted Adna through 10 games. Carroll posted an astonishing 15 rebounds in the win and Humphrey chipped in seven. They combined for 12 points on the night.
“They help us a lot,” Torrey said. “You have to win games by (playing) defense.”
Past years have seen the Pirates outscore teams. This year, it’s been defensive-centric.
They didn’t allow a Neah Bay field goal for nearly 10 minutes of gametime, including the entire second quarter. Once Adna realized it couldn’t stay in front of the high-octane shooters the Red Devils possessed, so it switched to a zone.
When it retook the lead in the fourth, it switched again but into a 1-3-1.
“They were matched up (well) with our zone, so once they made an adjustment in the third, they made shots,” Bannish said. “(1-3-1) bothered them. That was the run we needed and we held on and it was just enough.”
“We had to know where the shooters were,” Torrey added.
Greene and Cerise Moss pulled up from deep numerous times, but were held to just 5-of-20 for the game. The closest Neah Bay got to taking the lead again – something that only occurred twice – was three on Moss’ last triple of the night with 2:20 to go.
Torrey proceeded to ice the win from the charity stripe.
“It can give us a lot of confidence, that’s a really good team,” Torrey said.
When Bannish put together the non-league schedule – it wraps up with Taholah on Friday, Montesano on Monday and a later matchup with Cle Elum-Roslyn in January – he didn’t anticipate one loss.
Now, with the C2BL schedule kicking off in a week, he feels this team can accomplish something special in Spokane.
“The league top to bottom is better this year,” Bannish said. “There is not an easy night. You’re gonna have to show up, especially on the road. (This group) haven’t taken any days off.”
