Lady Blackhawks down Pullman, Clarkston in finale

See a photo gallery from the event here.

The Cheney High girls basketball team hopes they picked up a little momentum heading into the playoffs with a pair of wins last week to close out the Great Northern League regular season.

The Lady Blackhawks snapped a three-game losing skid with a 60-46 win Tuesday at Pullman, and capped the season with a hard-fought 57-53 home win Saturday against second-seeded Clarkston. The wins give Cheney an 11-9 record overall and a 6–6 mark in the GNL, tying them with West Valley, which gets the No. 3 playoff seed via their 2-1 season record against Cheney.

Head coach Lorin Carlon was pleased with his team in both games, adding the Lady Blackhawks played "really well" Saturday in a game postponed 24 hours due to weather conditions.

"The Pullman game we probably should have won, and Saturday we probably should have lost," Carlon said. "We'll take them both though."

Carlon said he made changes to the lineups for both games, something that generated a 26-point first quarter Tuesday against the Greyhounds. He also debuted a new defense for the Lady Blackhawks in Pullman, a 1-3-1 zone which they ran a bit against the Greyhounds but employed most of the game Saturday against Clarkston.

The defense proved successful, limiting the Bantams' penetrations to the basket and forcing them to shoot more from the outside. That helped the Lady Blackhawks win the rebounding battle, and also helped generate some of their own perimeter offense.

Freshman Maggie Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the third quarter to lead Cheney in an 18-7 offensive effort, breaking a 29-all tie at the half and giving them a 47-36 lead they managed to retain most of in the fourth quarter for the win.

Smith led the Lady Blackhawks with 15 points, with Holly Flynn scoring 14, Hailee Huff 12 and Kristie McGourin 10. It was the first time this season Cheney had four players in double figures in a game.

The Lady Blackhawks also took care of the ball, committing 10 turnovers at Pullman and about that many against the Bantams, Carlon said.

"We seem to be doing better finding ourselves than finding the other team," he added.

After taking a 26-11 first quarter lead, the Lady Blackhawks were never seriously threatened at Pullman. Smith led all scorers with 14 points while Brette Draper added 13, with McGourin pounding the boards for nine rebounds.

Cheney was slated to travel to West Valley Wednesday (Feb. 8) for a loser-out opening round playoff game against the Lady Eagles (12-8). The winner advances to a second-round match-up Saturday against the winner of the Clarkston-Pullman game.

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

See a photo gallery from the event here.