The free throw line was friendly to the Skyline Middle School girls basketball team last night, as the Lady T-birds shot 28 free throws during their 33-25 win over Pretty Prairie.
With the win, Skyline advanced to the HOPL Tournament Championship, set for 6:40 p.m. Thursday at Skyline.
Kadi Richardson got the Lady T-birds on the board with a pair of free throws, and when Kaitlyn Stark hit a jump shot from the top of the key, Skyline was up 4-2.
The Lady T-birds never trailed, as Alyssa Swonger stole the in-bounds pass and got it ahead to Janessa Davis, who was fouled on the shot. She hit one of two at the line to make it 5-2 Skyline with 3:01 left in the first.
A minute later, Mycha Owens was fouled and hit one of two free throws, pushing it to 6-2.
Pretty Prairie’s Selena Wapelhorst scored with 1:40 left, but Swonger passed the ball ahead to Davis for an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:17 left.
Davis finished the first quarter scoring with a free throw in the final minute, making it 10-4 Skyline after one.
The Lady T-birds led 10-6 early in the second, but ran off eight straight points to take control again.
A Brooke Fisher steal led to two free throws for Davis with 4:52 left.
Just seconds later, Davis stole the ball and drew another foul. She hit those free throws too for a 14-6 lead at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter.
A minute later, Davis picked up another steal that led to two free throws for Stark. When her second shot hit the bottom of the net, Skyline had a 16-6 lead with 3:21 left in the half.
Owens made two free throws with 2:38 left for an 18-6 Skyline lead.
Pretty Prairie cut it to 18-9 at halftime, and the Lady Bullpups kept trimming the lead in the third quarter.
When Brandi Hollenbeck scored on an in-bounds play with 3:46 on the clock, Skyline’s lead was just four points.
The Lady T-birds responded with a putback by Swonger at the 1:57 mark, and Davis hit a free throw with 1:23 left for a 23-16 lead.
Skyline had a 23-18 lead going into the fourth, and the Lady T-birds started the quarter on a 7-0 run to open up a 30-18 lead when Davis scored with 3:26 left.
After Renee Elpers scored for Pretty Prairie, Swonger hit a jump shot for a 32-20 edge at the 2:44 mark.
Pretty Prairie scored five straight to make it a seven-point game with just under two minutes to go.
Davis was fouled on a putback at the 1:40 mark, and hit the first of two free throws to give her team a 33-25 lead.
After getting a stop at the other end, Skyline’s guards went to work draining the clock.
The Lady T-birds ran it all the way to 30 seconds before Pretty Prairie committted team foul number seven of the half.
That foul sent Stark to the line for a one-and-one. She wasn’t able to coax it in, but Hollenbeck’s three-pointer at the other end was off the mark and Richardson grabbed the rebound.
She immediately passed it to Stark, who was fouled again with 15.8 ticks left. That free throw wouldn’t fall either, but Pretty Prairie was unable to get a decent shot off in the final seconds as Skyline held on for the win.
Davis led the Lady T-birds with 13 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist.
Stark added 11 points, eight rebounds and two steals.
Swonger chipped in six rebounds, two points, two steals and two assists while Richardson controlled five rebounds to go with two points and an assist.
Owens added five points, three rebounds and a pair of steals while Fisher swiped two steals on the night.
Skyline shot 28 free throws — hitting 17 of them — to just seven foul shots for Pretty Prairie.
The Lady T-birds also had a 30-20 rebounding advantage and they took advantage of 14 Pretty Prairie turnovers.
Skyline, the top seed in the tournament, will face second-seeded South Barber in Thursday night’s championshp game. It is scheduled to tip off at 6:40 p.m. at Skyline.
Pretty Prairie and Fairfield will square off in the 4 p.m. third-place game.
Skyline 33, Pretty Prairie 25
PPMS: Brandi Hollenbeck 4 (2) 0-0 14, Selena Wapelhorst 2 2-2 6, Charilyn Jackson 2 1-2 5, Renee Elpers 1 0-3 2, Kristin Halfrich 0 0-0 0, Shanay Wewe 0 0-0 0, Shaylee Wewe 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 (2) 3-7 25.
SMS: Janessa Davis 2 9-13 13, Kaitlyn Stark 4 3-7 11, Mycha Owens 1 3-6 5, Kadi Richardson 0 2-2 2, Alyssa Swonger 1 0-0 2, Brooke Fisher 0 0-0 0, Veronica Nelson 0 0-0 0, Tiffany Timm 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 17-28 33.
PP 4 5 9 7 — 25
S 10 8 5 10 — 33
