Lady Blackhawks bow out of post season
Last updated 2/14/2019 at 6:26pm
It’s difficult to beat a team in back to back games, as Cheney High School’s girls basketball team discovered last week. After earning a hard-fought win over Great Northern League rival West Valley in the regular-season finale at home last Tuesday, the Lady Blackhawks saw their 2018-2019 campaign come to an end a the hand of the Eagles three days later in District 7 loser-out competition at University High School.
The Lady Blackhawks fell behind early and couldn’t quite dig themselves out of that hole on Friday, falling 65-43 to West Valley. The Eagles opened a 17-5 lead after one quarter, and stretched that to 20-5 early in the second on Tori Ivins’ 3-pointer.
But Cheney rallied, led by the offense of Maggie Smith and Aijia Loffredi. Smith hit a 3 to get a 9-0 run started, followed by a pair of buckets by Loffredi and another one by Smith to pull within 20-14 with 3 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the half.
West Valley’s Nevaeh Sherwood hit a layin to stop Cheney’s run, and the Eagles stretched their lead back to 11 before another Smith 3, and a pair of free throws by Lexi Deatherage brought Cheney back to within six at 25-19 just 12 seconds before intermission.
West Valley stretched it back to 10 on Jillian Taylor’s 3 before the buzzer, and Cheney never got any closer than that the remainder of the game as the Eagles pulled away for the playoff win.
Cheney was led offensively by Loffredi’s 12 points, with Smith tossing in 11. Sherwood led all scorers with 19 points.
Earlier in the week it was the Lady Blackhawks who prevailed against West Valley, overcoming an early 12-9 deficit after one quarter with a 21-point effort in the second to take a 30-24 halftime lead. Cheney built on that in the third quarter en route to their 65-54 win.
Smith had 17 points to lead Cheney, nine coming on three, 3-pointers. Loffredi and Shelby Draper each added 13.
Cheney ends the season at 5-7 in GNL play, fourth place. The Lady Blackhawks overcame a 1-5 start to the season to finish 9-12 overall under interim head coach Roxi Smith, who replaced Lorin Carlon who was let go by school district officials after the Dec. 7 loss to eventual league champion Clarkston.
Cheney losses three seniors: Loffredi, Haley Pemberton and Kayla Singer, but stands to return a relatively young team next season led by juniors Smith and Draper along with sophomore Emma Evans.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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