Pirates pick up pace too late, fall to Grace at State

Feb. 17—The Prairie of Cottonwood girls' basketball team allowed Grace to score within the first three seconds of an Idaho Class 1A Division I state tournament semifinal game on Thursday at Nampa High School, and couldn't recover from there.

The Grizzlies never trailed and secured their spot in the 1A DI state championship bout with a 56-52 victory over the Pirates.

"I think there were a lot of nerves initially," Prairie coach Lori Mader said. "They came out very senior heavy to start the game, and we're on the youthful side and were caught in the moment watching the game instead of playing the game."

Prairie (18-8) was hardly in sync for the remainder of the first quarter and committed multiple turnovers en route to a double-digit deficit with 5:40 remaining in the frame.

The Pirates eventually found their footing late in the second half and pulled themselves to within a possession as sophomore guard Lexi Schumacher went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line with 56 seconds left in regulation.

Prairie had to foul with no timeouts left, and Grace (21-3) did enough at the free-throw line down the stretch to win.

The Pirates will next play Oakley in the third-place game at 11 a.m. Pacific today at the same site. Grace will play Lapwai in the title game at 10:30 a.m. at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa.

Here's how this semifinal game shook out:

Pirates make it interesting late

Grace went on a 5-0 run in the final 1:20 of the third quarter to bolster its lead to 45-36.

Sage Elven went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line with 5:21 left in regulation and pulled Prairie to within single digits at 50-41.

The Pirates went on a mini 9-3 spurt to pull themselves within 53-50 with 1:06 left in the fourth quarter, which was the closest the game had been since the opening two minutes.

Grace's Jacie Christensen was sent to the free-throw line and went 2-for-2 to extend its lead to 55-50 with 54 seconds left in regulation.

Prairie put up two 3-pointers on the ensuing possession but missed both. But a Kylie Schumacher put-back gave the Pirates some life with 31 seconds left in regulation down a possession at 55-52.

The Grizzlies took 10 seconds off the clock due to three Pirates being in foul trouble as time was about to expire.

Grace's Sydnee Smith went 1-for-2 at the line with 1.2 seconds left in regulation for the final margin.

"The first four or five minutes, we got buried by 14 points," Mader said. "We were shocked, and then we started to go back and forth with them and got to within three, and we started to fight and really get after it."

Too deep of a hole early

The Pirates were forced to play from behind after committing five turnovers in the first four minutes, which led to Grace taking a 14-2 advantage with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

Prairie gave up the rock 24 times and the Grizzlies scored 21 points off of its miscues.

"The worst part was five or six came in the first five minutes," Mader said. "They led to three or four quick layins, and when you're clawing and scratching or chasing the rest of the game, it can wear you down pretty quickly."

The Pirates eventually strung some runs together, with their first being a 7-0 spurt with 3:11 left in the first half to cut their deficit to 24-19.

Grace outscored Prairie 10-3 the rest of the quarter.

Prairie capped off another 7-0 spurt with a 3-pointer from Elven to cut its deficit to 40-36 with 1:37 left in the third quarter.

The Grizzlies outscored the Pirates 5-0 to close the frame.

Players of the game/stats of note

Prairie never led, but it dominated on the glass and led Grace 15-9 in second-chance points.

The Pirates had a 40-31 rebounding advantage over the Grizzlies, thanks in part to Elven's 12 boards.

The sophomore was all over the floor for the Pirates and finished with a game-high 20 points and two assists to go with her rebounds.

"She's a long body in the paint and presents some guarding issues," Mader said. "It's nice to have a post that can shoot 3s and make moves on the inside. ... She played a really tough game because of her versatility."

Lexi and Kylie Schumacher were also in double figures with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

Both teams struggled at the free-throw line, as the Pirates finished 11-of-17 (64.7%) and the Grizzlies were 14-of-30 (46.7%).

"It killed us a bit," Mader said of her team's free-throw percentage. "When somebody gets off 13 more free-throw attempts than you, that tends to win you games, and it was difficult to watch."

GRACE (20-3)

Lydia Andersen 0 0-0 0, Kallie Stoddard 1 3-4 5, Jacie Christensen 2 4-10 11, Melodie Straatman 5 0-3 10, Kamryn Mansfield 0 0-0 0, Shaston Lloyd 0 0-0 0, Lilly Gilbert 0 0-0 0, Presleigh Steadman 0 0-0 0, Tayler Yost 3 3-4 9, Amanda Cooper 0 0-0 0, Bryleigh Walker 0 0-0 0, Tessica Jorgenson 2 2-2 7, Sydnee Smith 3 2-7 8. Totals 19 14-30 56.

PRAIRIE (18-8)

Lexi Schumacher 4 5-6 16, Aubree Rehder 0 0-0 0, Sydney Shears 0 2-2 2, Hailey Hanson 0 0-0 0, Nadia Cash 0 0-0 0, Ellie Nuxoll 0 0-0 0, Halle Rowland 0 0-0 0, Erica Schlader 0 0-0 0, Alli Geis 1 0-0 2, Sage Elven 8 2-5 20, Kylie Schumacher 5 2-4 12. Totals 19 11-17 52.

Grace 18 16 11 11—56

Prairie 8 15 13 16—52

3-point goals — Christensen 2, Straatman, Jorgensen, Elven 2, L. Schumacher