Cheney's Maggie Smith tries to get a pass over the outstretched arms of East Valley's Faith Adams (33) and another unidentified Knights player to teammate Hailee Huff (22).
The Cheney High girls basketball team is having difficulty scoring lately, at least consistently - a difficulty that led to league losses last week at West Valley and at home against Great Northern League season champions East Valley.
The Lady Blackhawks managed double-digit scoring outputs in just two of the eight quarters they played last week, resulting in a 48–36 loss to the Eagles Tuesday and a 62–40 setback to the 11th-ranked Knights, Saturday.
Part of the reason for Cheney's offensive woes comes on the rebounding glass, something head coach Lorin Carlon said was evident in both games. At West Valley, Cheney played hard in the first half, going into the locker room tied at 24, but were doubled up in the second half, 24–12, by the Eagles, who got multiple scoring opportunities through offensive rebounds.
"They were disappointed," Carlon said of his team's response after the game. "They weren't too happy, and that's fine. You shouldn't be happy with yourself."
Brette Draper led Cheney in scoring with eight points.
Cheney fell behind early to the Knights on Saturday, but rallied in the second quarter. A fast-break layup by Draper off an assist from Aija Loffredi pulled the Lady Blackhawks to within two at 25–23 with 2 minutes, 55 seconds to play before the half, but it was as close as they would get.
The Knights outscored Cheney 10–2 over the first 3:40 of the third quarter to take a 41–27 lead, and made that 51-32 at the 5:44 mark of the final period en route to the win.
Holly Flynn led Cheney in scoring with 10 points, with Loffredi chipping in nine.
Carlon said the rebounding problems stem from simple mechanics, such as being better at boxing out opponents when shots go up. The other contributing factor might not be as easy to remedy as it's more mental than physical -turnovers.
Cheney committed 24 at West Valley and 22 against East Valley. Carlon said turnovers, combine with rebounding, are two of the main reasons the Lady Blackhawks are averaging 49 points per game offensively while giving up 46 on defense.
"Which means our margin for error is not much," Carlon said.
The losses leave Cheney sitting in fourth place in the GNL at 4-6, 9-9 overall. The Lady Blackhawks are one game back of West Valley (5-5, 11-7) with both teams facing common opponents this week.
Cheney traveled to Pullman (0-9, 3-14) Tuesday and wraps up the regular season Friday at home against second-place Clarkston (6-4, 9-8) while the Eagles reverse that order. Wins over both schools, coupled with two losses by West Valley would vault Cheney into third place and a potential home game in the district playoffs single-elimination round.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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