District Champ Lady Pirates advance to Regionals

WALLA WALLA–The Lady Pirates slammed the door on the Oakesdale Lady Nighthawks in the fourth quarter, holding their cold-shooting opponents scoreless for five minutes and winning the District 9 Championship 50-39 here Friday, February 21.

First-ranked Pomeroy advances to the WIAA 1B State Tournament through regional play, taking on No. 8 Wellpinit in the opening round, 2 p.m. Saturday, February 29, at Richland High School. Wellpinit went 8-7 in league, 12-10 on the season.

Oakesdale survived the consolation round, beating GarPal to face Yakama Nation Tribal Saturday at West Valley in Spokane. They beat Colton 51-34 in the opening round and sent GarPal home with the consolation win.

Until the final stanza, it was touch and go, but the Lady Pirates left Oakesdale, who split with Pomeroy during the 2019-2020 season, in the dust, capitalizing on cooool shooting by the Lady Nighthawks in the fourth quarter and cooool ball-control tactics by the Lady Bucs to burn the most time out of every possession.

"We absolutely wanted it more tonight," commented Head Coach Tai Bye. "This is a team who has lost two state championship games in a row and they are so hungry, and they want to get back, and they want to finish the season."

Lady Pirate team leaders played big roles in the win. Senior post Maddy Dixon sparked the team with 18 points, including a crucial three pointer halfway through the second quarter that kicked off a 14-2 run and a 29-21 halftime lead. She started the Lady Pirates on its way in the fourth quarter, swishing a trey to widen Pomeroy's scant three-point lead, then scored on a Heidi Heytvelt assist. Dixon snagged 13 rebounds and blocked three Nighthawk shots.

Heytvelt scored 12, rebounded four and was prolific in handling the ball and dishing assists.

Emma Severs sank three treys in her return to the basketball court after a debilitating knee injury. (See sidebar.)

Sydney Watko finished with seven rebounds, four steals and six blocks Coach Bye called "impressive."

"You saw a lot of grit," Bye commented. "You saw gutting it out. My girls were exhausted. I don't play a lot of girls; I don't have a deep bench, but, tell you what, the girls who played, and my bench, they had so much energy and they played with the emotion well...it was just overall one of the hardest games that I've seen them play physically."

The first quarter ended with Pomeroy leading 11-10 after Oakesdale's Jessie Reed and Lizzy Perry started of with buckets in the tense but scoreless first minutes of back-and-forth play.

Dixon finally put the Lady Bucs on the scoreboard with a bucket at the 3:00 mark. J. Reed answered with a basket making it 6-2 Oakesdale, but Heytvelt had had enough and took the ball to the hoop, drawing a J. Reed foul, and making both free throws.

Then the press was on! Dixon swiped the ball, dished to Heytvelt, and it was tied 6-6. Heytvelt came up with another steal and bucket for Pomeroy's first lead at 1:50 on the clock. J. Reed hit again to tie the game.

Here's where Severs lined up and fired a three from downtown for Pomeroy's 11-8 lead. Perry hit a pair of free throws as the quarter ended 11-10.

Oakesdale wrested the lead back with a Perry trey to open the second quarter with a 13-11 lead. J. Reed drove the baseline for two and the Lady Pirates appeared to be struggling, behind by four points.

Alyssa Wolf fed the ball into Dixon for two, but J. Reed countered with a bucket, keeping the lead at four.

Heytvelt got hacked and hit both at the charity stripe. The ball exchanged hands and Oakesdale got it with a two-on-one fast break against senior guard Wolf, who fended off the attack until backup arrived. J. Reed scored her third basket in a row to keep the Oakesdale lead at four points, 19-15.

Here the Lady Pirates started their comeback. J. Reed fouled Dixon, who split a pair at the line, 19-16.

Pomeroy got the ball back and, on an inbounds play, Severs fed to Dixon at the arc and swish!-tie ballgame!

Again, the Lady Nighthawks were rebuffed and the Pirates moved the ball to Severs for three. Oakesdale's Julie Baljo popped one in, but Dixon answered with an inside basket.

Once more, Oakesdale's offense sputtered and Pomeroy rebounded, and this time McKenzie Watko drained a three, 27-21. The Pirates again stopped Oakesdale and converted, with Dixon tipping a rebound to Sydney Watko for two and capping the 14-2 run up to half time's 29-21 score.

Both teams were subdued in the third quarter. Lizzy Perry flung the ball at the hoop as the shot clock wound down to zero and banked in a three pointer, responding only with a "what-else-could-I-do" shrug.

Watko found Heytvelt open for a bucket but J. Reed answered with two points, 31-26.

The quarter had plenty of intense play, offensive thrusts and defensive parries, with sometimes two or three possession exchanges between baskets.

Prolific substitutions by Coach Bye kept Pomeroy's intensity high. McKenzie Watko dished the ball to Dixon for a bucket, and Sydney Watko popped in another basket for a 35-27 lead. But Oakesdale's Perry and Marilla Hockett, with a trey, gave a five-point burst to end the third period with Pomeroy holding a slim three-point lead, 35-32.

Pomeroy outscored Oakesdale 15-7 in the final quarter, as the Lady Nighthawks struggled to find the range and the Pirates showed their dominance on the glass.

Dixon hit her second trey of the game on Pomeroy's opening possession to give the team 38-32 breathing room. Then Dixon committed her third foul at 6:58 and J. Reed missed both free throws-crucial misses.

After another two minutes of offense and defense exchanges, Heytvelt fed the ball to Dixon, whose basket was accompanied by a free throw and a 41-32 lead-a welcome additional point margin.

Pomeroy's press was on and Oakesdale seemed rattled, missing shots and letting the Lady Pirates gather in the rebound or snagging steals and loss balls.

Dixon pivoted to move and was whistled with a player-control foul, her fourth, with 3:30 to play, trotting to the bench.

Oakesdale capitalized on Dixon's absence by making two or three offensive rebounds, J. Reed finally making one count, drawing a Heytvelt foul, and cutting the difference to six, 41-35.

Pomeroy's intensity didn't waver as Keely Maves, in the matter of a few seconds, counted a pair of baskets, first on a Sydney Watko assist, second on one from Wolf. With about two minutes to go, Pomeroy held a 10-point lead, 45-35.

J. Reed added her 19th point at 1:50, but the Lady Pirates were in time-chewing mode and kept the ball moving while the shot clock ticked down. Severs put the exclamation point on her return to the maple with a third trey and an 11-point lead, 48-37.

The last minute saw Heytvelt scoring on a baseline drive and Perry taking a steal to the hoop.

Pomeroy's fourth-quarter intensity, even with Dixon in foul trouble, didn't let down. "When I sub, I can't lose momentum," Bye said. "And Keely did not let that happen tonight. She did not let us lose momentum. She stayed up on top. She did what she was supposed to do and it was awesome."

Pomeroy 50, Oakesdale 39

Pom 11 18 6 15-50

Oak 10 11 11 7-39

Pomeroy (50) Maddy Dixon 7-16 2-3 18, Sydney Watko 1-7 0-0 2, Alyssa Wolf 0-6 0-0 0, Heidi Heytvelt 4-8 4-4 12, Keely Maves 3-6 0-0 6, Emma Severs 3-4 0-0 9, Jillian Herres 0-0 0-0 0, McKenzie Watko 1-3 0-1 3, Maya Kowatsch 0-0 0-0 0, Chase Caruso 0-0 0-0 0, Kendall Dixon 0-0 0-0 0.

Oakesdale (39) Jessie Reed 9-16 1-4 19, Lizzy Perry 5-10 2-2 14, Bree Rawls 0-4 0-0 0, Marilla Hockett 1-3 0-0 3, Julie Baljo 1-2 0-0 2, Lauryn Rawls 0-0 0-0 0, LouEllen Reed 0-7 0-0 0, Kaylee Hinnenkamp 0-4 1-2 1

3 Point Goals: Oakesdale: Perry 2, Hockett. Pomeroy: Dixon 2, M. Watko, Severs 3. Fouls: Oakesdale (9), Pomeroy (9). Fouled Out: None. Technical Fouls: None. Rebounds: Dixon (13) Pomeroy Rebounds: Team (29). Turnovers: Pomeroy (10). Assists: Pomeroy (16).