Lady Blackhawks perfect at West Valley tournament

Rock and roll legend Meatloaf once sang that “two out of three ain’t bad.”

For the Cheney High School girls’ basketball team, that was true with regards to last week’s trifecta of basketball games, although three out of three would have been more preferable. The Lady Blackhawks put together their second stretch of back-to-back wins this season with victories over Riverside and Bonners Ferry in the West Valley Holiday Tournament, but came up short in their second league match up with Clarkston last Saturday night.

Playing much better than in their first game with the Bantams, a 62-25 loss, Cheney was within five points at 38-33 heading into the fourth quarter, but was outscored 21-6 in the final eight minutes. Lady Blackhawks head coach Shannon Root felt her team simply ran out of gas, playing on Eastern Washington University’s Reese Court hardwood that is longer than a regulation high school court.

While the Lady Bantams were also playing on the same court, Root said they also play games on Lewis-Clark State College’s court during the season, including holiday tournament games last week.

“I think they were exhausted,” Root said of the Lady Blackhawks. “They’re (Clarkston) in good shape, and they’re also pretty deep.

Kendyl Cone led all scorers with 16 points, with Kayla Lemelin adding 12 and Brette Draper eight in Cheney’s eight-player rotation. By contrast, Clarkston had three players in double-digit scoring in their 10-player rotation.

Cheney opened the West Valley tournament with a convincing 41-13 win over an overmatched Riverside High team on Monday, Dec. 29. The Lady Blackhawks were never threatened, leading 19-6 at the break and outscoring the Rams 22-7 in the second half.

Cone was the only player in double figures, leading all scorers with 13 points. Katelynn Smedley added seven points and Marissa Hunley six as Cheney played all 12 players on the roster.

Tuesday afternoon’s game with Idaho 3A classification Bonners Ferry was much more compeftitive, for players and fans alike. The Lady Blackhawks outscored the Badgers 8-4 to rally from a 37-33 third quarter deficit and take a 42-41 lead with nine seconds to play in the game.

With the ball in their half court, Bonners Ferry called a timeout to set up a play. For Root, it was a more simple approach.

“All I could say was play defense,” she said.

Cheney did, with Alexis Brooks picking off a pass inside on a screen and roll and managing to outlet the ball to Cheyenne Hanson, who was fouled and converted the one-and-one for the 44-41 win.

Root said it was a “fantastic” finish given the fact that both Cone and Draper were on the bench with injuries and the Lady Blackhawks were playing with four non-starters.

“That was pretty impressive that we were able to wrap up a game with our leading scorer and leading 3-point shooter on the bench,” she said.

Cheney goes to 4-5 overall, 0-2 in Great Northern League play. They have a big week ahead of them with three games over five days — all in the GNL and all on the road.

The Lady Blackhawks faced East Valley (7-2, 1-0) Tuesday, and follow that game with contests at West Valley (2-6, 0-0) Friday and at Pullman (4-5, 0-1) Saturday. Root said the keys to victory are lots of substitutions and an energetic attitude on the court.

“Just go and play hard,” she said. “These are all teams that are beatable, but they’re aggressive.”

John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.