STATE BASKETBALL: White River girls eliminated following loss to Lakes

The White River High girls were bounced from the Class 3A state tournament Thursday afternoon following a tough 49-41 loss to the Lakes Lancers.

The Hornets suffered the two-and-out route after having lost Wednesday to the Cleveland Eagles. The state tournament involves 16 teams in a double-elimination format.

Thursday’s loss was difficult because the Hornets led 26-18 at halftime, saw the Lancers whittle the deficit to a single point, then expanded their lead again when Sabra Sproul buried a 3-pointer to open the fourth quarter. Moments later Sproul converted a traditional 3-point play, giving the Hornets a 39-32 lead.

From that point, with 5 minutes, 57 seconds remaining, White River managed only a pair of free throws. Lakes seized the momentum and secured the win by scoring 17 points during the same span.

The Lancers Braile Fields came up huge in the late going, scoring a dozen of her game-high 21 points in the fourth period.

The explanation for the Hornets’ loser-out loss was spelled out in the game’s final statistics, which showed White River shooting poorly and getting outrebounded for the second game in a row. The Hornets connected on just 13 of 64 shots during the game, good for a 20.3 percent performance.

Sproul finished with 17 points and Brooke Paulson added 13 in the loss.

NOTE: a full story and photos will be included in the next print edition of The Courier-Herald.

Contact Enumclaw Courier Herald Senior Writer, Editor Kevin Hanson at editor@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.

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