There aren’t many nights where a team shoots better than 50% on three-point attempts, so you enjoy it while you can. Especially when it’s against a league rival with postseason ambitions.
The Gonzaga Prep girls shot an amazing 10-of-12 from long range in the first half to build an insurmountable lead en route to a 74-43 victory over visiting Ridgeline in a Greater Spokane League 4A/3A game on Tuesday.
Senior Laura Thompson led Gonzaga prep with 22 points with three 3-pointers. Junior Quinn Pederson had 19 with five 3s and junior Aylah Cornwall added 15.
Ridgeline was led by junior Grace Sheridan with 19 points and senior Madi Crowley added 16.
“Usually we can’t do that in the lane, so I don’t know if we can count on that every game, but we definitely did tonight,” Gonzaga Prep coach Geoff Arte said of the first-half shooting spree. “As good as the offense was — and shooting always makes you look better — our defense was really tough tonight against a really good team.”
“Our hard work ethic has carried us so far,” Thompson said. “It’s definitely nice to have a game where things went right for us.
G-Prep dressed just eight and was missing starter Charlee Peterson with the flu.
“She’s our best defender, and when we got to school and we knew she was going to have the flu, we kind of sulked. And I said, ‘Who cares?'” Art said. “We simplified the game plan as much as possible and they just went out and executed like crazy.
The Bullpups (12-0, 2-0) raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first two minutes. Midway through the first quarter, they got a pair of 3-pointers from Pederson and led 23-12 after one.
Pederson hit another 3 three minutes into the second to complete a 13-2 run to push the lead to 20. G-Prep led 44-20 at the break.
Pederson finished with four 3-pointers in the first half, while Thompson and Belle Hernandez (12 points) each added three.
“It seems like it was pretty even all night,” Arte said. “A lot of kids were shooting and some kids that were struggling hit us big tonight.
“It’s something we practice every day in practice,” Thompson said. “It’s a really big thing, making sure we’re passing the ball, making sure we have more people on the court to keep us in the game and can score.”
G-Prep’s 3-point shooting dried up in the third quarter as the Bullpups missed all four of their long-range attempts, but it didn’t hurt their bottom line as they outscored Ridgeline 15-9 in the period and led by 30 in the fourth quarter.
The Falcons (9-4, 1-1), who have seven freshmen on varsity, opened the fourth with a 12-3 spurt fueled by Sheridan and Crowley to get the deficit under 20 points. But Cornwall converted a three-point play with three minutes remaining to stem the tide.
Arte wants to make sure his team doesn’t settle for a big win.
“You have to do it again in February,” he said. “One night we will celebrate and tomorrow we have to go back to training.
Boys
Gonzaga Prep 60, Ridgeline 48: Jack Pierce scored 16 points, Dylynn Groves added 14 and the Bullpups (9-5, 2-0) held off the Falcons (4-9, 0-2) in the opener.
Ridgeline got within two points on a pair of free throws with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left, but didn’t score again. G-Prep scored the final 10 points of the game, all at the line.
The Bullpups limited the Falcons to a total of five points in the fourth quarter.
“We didn’t communicate as well as we would have liked the whole game and (Ridgeline) really made a lot of 3-pointers because we weren’t getting enough pressure on the ball in the first half,” Gonzaga Prep coach Matty McIntyre said. “We talked about it before the game, but we weren’t able to execute it.
Joey Duff led Ridgeline with 15 points and four 3-pointers. Caden Andreas added 12 with three 3s.
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