Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Girls hold off UCA despite absence of three players
Reardan senior Erika Preuschoff converts a layup Tuesday. Preuschoff scored nine points in Reardan's 48-43 win over Upper Columbia Academy Tuesday, Jan. 11.
REARDAN-The varsity girls team was down two starters and one main rotation player in its matchup against Upper Columbia Academy. Though that fact caused some hiccups throughout the game, it wasn't enough to prevent Reardan from winning its ninth straight game by holding off the Lions 48-43 Tuesday, Jan. 11.
Reardan was down seniors Madi Dewey and Brooklyn Edwards and junior Liberty Anderson due to COVID-19 protocols. Ella Curry and Emma Flaa started in Dewey and Anderson's place.
A sloppy first quarter by both offenses ended with Reardan holding a slim 10-9 lead. UCA then built a 20-14 halftime lead as Reardan struggled to hit shots without its top three-point shooter in Dewey. All the teams' first-half points came from inside the paint or from the foul line.
Reardan then found its offense in the second half, putting together 34 points while holding off the hot-shooting Mila Pierce, who scored 31 of UCA's 43 points.
"We just hit some shots that we didn't hit in the first three quarters and we had girls playing in roles, which was magnificent to have girls stepping up and playing in key moments," head coach Bob Swannack said. "These were good moments, because who knows what the future holds. (COVID-19) could go through us all in the next week, so we have to be prepared to continue to play and have those girls that are here be available."
Ayden Krupke led the scoring attack for Reardan with 20 points. Erika Preuschoff contributed a much-needed nine points, including three timely and-one baskets around the rim.
The win was Reardan's ninth in a row. Friday, the girls handled Northwest Christian (Colbert) 54-33 behind 20 points, six assists and five steals from Krupke and 13 points and eight rebounds from Dewey.
"We're more competitive today than we were. It's more important to us," Swannack said. "Defensively, we're holding teams to fewer than most. We've bought into that and kind of embraced that as who we are, because offensively we're not very good. But I knew that coming in, that offense takes years. Defense, you can do it today."
Reardan only allowed NWC to score more than seven points in a quarter once that game.
The team's next scheduled game is at Kettle Falls Saturday, Jan. 15 at 6 p.m.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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