Lady Pirates beat Indians

POMEROY––Jillian Herres and Keely Maves were the one-two punch that carried the Lady Pirates to a 33-23 win over the Touchet Indians here May 14.

Pomeroy is 1-1 so far following a loss in the season opener to Garfield-Palouse, 58-24.

The Lady Buccaneers will squeeze most of their games in the next two weeks. They hosted Colton Monday of this week, traveled to Liberty Christian on Tuesday, visited Sunnyside Christian Thursday, May 20, and then returned home against Oakesdale May 24. They follow that with Senior Night versus Yakama Nation on Tuesday, May 25, and close the season at DeSales Thursday, May 27.

"It has been an interesting start to this crazy covid season," observed Interim Head Coach Brock Ledgerwood who is filling in for Tai Bye while she is on maternity leave.

"It will be a three-week sprint," Ledgerwood said. "We have a great group of girls and although we lack experience, we have a hard-working bunch that is eager to get better."

Pomeroy's offense sputtered-as did Touchet's-in the first half, the Lady Pirats leading 4-2 after one quarter and 11-7 at the break.

Then Touchet scorched the nets with 12 third-quarter points to be breathing down Pomeroy's necks, 20-19.

But in the second half, the Lady Pirate offense started clicking, and the defense counted a couple easy baskets. "Touchet battled back from down 20-11 in the third quarter," Ledgerwood said, "then we were able to pound the ball inside. Keely Maves was an animal inside, scoring all 16 of her points in the paint and eight of them in the fourth quarter." Maves also made five rebounds.

A key to the win was Jillian Herres's aggressiveness. Herres pushed into the Lady Indian defense and mixed things up, counting 10 points, six assists and four steals along the way. "Her ability to get to the hoop and free throw line was a big for us," Ledgerwood said. "She kept us in the game until our offense was able to click.

"I was especially happy with our defense against Touchet," he added. "Freshmen Hallie Brewer and Ashlee Pemberton were key, hounding Touchet's point guard all night, and our zone inside held their top scorer LeAnn Kincaid down. With our struggles to score, we will need to continue defend well."

Pomeroy v Touchet (5-14)

Pom 4 7 9 13-33

Tou 2 5 12 4-23

Touchet (23) Emily Hilbert 0 0-0 0, Ashley Luna 0 0-1 0, Areli Orozco 2 0-2 4, Rosetta Renwick 0 0-0 0, Marielle Mendoza 1 0-0 0, LeAnn Kincaid 2 4-7 8, Tanya Luna 2 0-0 5, Diana Rincon 2 0-0 4.

Pomeroy (33) Chase Caruso 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Ruchert 0 0-0 0, Jadence Gingerich 0 0-0 0, Jillian Herres 2 6-8 10, Keely Maves 8 0-0 16, Kendall Dixon 1 1-6 3, Hallie Brewer 0 0-0 0, Hannah Bagby 0 0-0 0, Ashlee Pemberton 1 0-0 2.

Fouls: Pomeroy 13, Touchet 14. Fouled Out: Kincaid Touchet.

3pt shooting Pomeroy 0-4, Touchet 1-5.

Garfield Palouse came to Pomeroy ready to play Thursday, May 13, and it showed.

On offense, they shot the lights out from the arc, and played "outstanding and physical defense," Ledgerwood said.

"They brought an experienced group of upper classmen that played outstanding and physical defense," he said. "We struggled all night to get good shots and had no rhythm offensively. This was a tough team to start our short season with."

Herres sparked the Lady Bucs with her ball handling and attack of the basket, the coach said.

But they were up against the hot-shooting Lady Vikings, who hit eight of 11, 73% from the three-point arc.

Gar-Pal's Kenzi Peterson, an All-League player in 2019, dominated at post, scoring 21.

Jillian Herres was a spark for Pomeroy, handling the ball and attacking the basket. Herres scored 12, grabbed five rebounds and made two steals.

Pomeroy v Garfield-Palouse (5/13)

Pom 8 11 6 7-24

GP 16 16 15 11-58

Garfield-Palouse (58) Kara Blomgren 0 0-0 0, ZoeLaughary 0 0-0 0, Kennedy Cook 1 1-3 4 (1-3 3pt), Madi Cloninger 4 0-2 12 (4-4 3pt), Paige. Collier 1 2-2 4, Makenzie Collier 3 1-2 8 (1-1 3pt), Maci Brantner 4 1-4 9, Kenzi Peterson 8 3-5 21 (14 in 1st half, 2-2 3pt). Shooting: (2pt) 13/28-46%, (3pt) 8/11-73%. Free throws: 8/18-44%.

Pomeroy (24) Chase Caruso 1 0-0 5 (1-1 3 pt), Elizabeth Ruchert 0 0-0 0, Jadence Gingerich 0 0-0 0, Jillian Herres 4 3-4 12 (1-1 3pt), Keely Maves 1 1-1 3, Kendall Dixon 2 0-0 4, Hallie Brewer 0 0-0 0, Hannah Bagby 0 0-0 0. Shooting: (2pt) 7/42-17%, (3pt) 2/8-25%. Free throws: 4/5-80%.