Davenport girls roll to Senior Night victory

DAVENPORT – It was only fitting that it would be Ellie Telford and Darby Soliday, the leaders of the Lady Gorillas, who led Davenport to a convincing 63-40 victory over the Liberty Lancers in a nonleague tilt on Senior Night. Telford scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Soliday had 17 points, 12 rebounds and six assists as the Gorillas improved to 8-1 on the season and 1-0 in nonleague play.

Liberty looked like it would have a fighting chance early, taking an 11-9 lead after the second quarter. But as has often been the case this season, Davenport turned up the pressure in the second quarter, scoring 21 points and allowing just seven points. The Lady Gorillas led 30-18 at halftime and only built the lead in the second half.

Davenport bounced back after suffering its first and only loss of the season Monday at Lind-Ritzville/Sprague in a narrow 39-37 defeat.

"We had a couple of illnesses yesterday, though that wasn't our main problem...but I thought we pulled it together and looked a little more efficient on offense," Davenport head coach Stacia Soliday said.

Kylee Buchanan added eight points for Davenport.

The Gorillas shot a fairly efficient 40.7% from the field. Soliday was the only Davenport player to convert a three-pointer, but the team was 50% from the field on two-point shots and 16-for-19 from the line.

Liberty was held to 38.6% shooting despite hitting twice as many threes as Davenport (six). Davenport convincingly outrebounded Liberty 42-25 and had 10 assists to the Lancers' five.

Davenport has one game left in the regular season, back at Liberty (this time in a league game), Friday, June 11. The Gorillas are likely to be the No. 1 seed in the NE2B playoffs next week, which is expected to be an eight-team, single-elimination tournament beginning Monday, June 14. Stay tuned for updates.

Boys fall to Lancers

The Davenport boys didn't fare as well as the girls did on Senior Night. After hanging tough with the Liberty Lancers for two-and-a-half quarters, the Gorillas allowed the opponent to pull away in the final 12 minutes in a 76-59 loss Tuesday, June 8.

The Gorillas and Lancers landed punch and counterpunch throughout the first half. Brenick Soliday rained in three three-pointers and scored 13 first-half points, while Tennesee Rainwater got into the paint seemingly at will, scoring eight points at the beginning of the third quarter inside.

Davenport led 18-17 after one quarter, while Liberty was up 38-37 after a fast-paced, intense first half.

After Rainwater's hot start in the third quarter, the Lancers clamped down on defense, only allowing 14 points the rest of the way while once again scoring 38 points in the half to pull away. The fourth quarter favored Liberty 15-6.

Davenport head coach Matt Henry lamented missed opportunities on the glass, though the teams were nearly even in rebounding, with Liberty holding a 33-32 advantage.

"Rebounding is something that we're working on, and we fell a little short in that category," Henry said. "We didn't get as many opportunities as we needed to stay in the game."

Henry also discussed shot selection in the final 12 minutes, as the Gorillas managed just 22 second-half points after an effective first half shooting the ball.

"Some of the looks we wanted, but we have to work on shot selection, because long shots equal long rebounds," Henry said. "If we're not taking good shots on offense, we don't know when the next shot will go up, so we always work on improving our shot selection and our rebounding."

Rainwater finished with 24 points, while Soliday added 19 points. London Foland hit six 3-pointers and scored 26 points to lead all scorers for Liberty.

Liberty shot an impressive 50.9% from the field and went 7-for-16 from three. Davenport was 39.3% from the field and 7-for-20 from three.

Davenport fell to 6-3 with the loss and 0-1 in nonleague play. The Gorillas have one regular season match remaining back at Liberty Friday, June 11 before the playoffs commence Tuesday, June 15.

Author Bio

Drew Lawson, Editor

Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

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