An untimely scoring drought cost the Pratt High School girls basketball team a spot in the Class 4A Sub-State semifinals, as Ulysses rallied for a 39-33 win last night in Ulysses.
The loss eliminated Pratt (7-13) from the postseason and ended the PHS careers of Brooke Blankenship and Ashton Neumann, who combined for ten points, six rebounds, six steals and three assists on the night.
The Lady Greenbacks trailed 14-11 at halftime, but rallied to take a 26-25 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Neumann got the second half started for PHS with a three-pointer off an assist from Blankenship, tying the game at 14 with 7:46 left in the third.
Ulysses scored four straight, but Pratt answered with a three-point play by Aubrey Hoover as Rystal Hoeme’s in-bounds pass was on the money and Hoover easily turned it into points.
That got the Lady Greenbacks back within one at the 5:36 mark of the third, but Ulysses seniors Jayde Jarnagin and Courtney Anthony scored five straight points to give the Lady Tigers a 23-17 lead with 4:32 on the clock.
Blankenship responded by stealing a pass and nailing a short jump shot with 4:07 left.
After Jarnagin scored at the other end, sophomore guard Dominique Staats picked up an offensive rebound and was fouled on the shot. She wasn’t able to make it a three-point play, but the basket got Pratt within four points down 25-21 with 2:33 to go.
Blankenship hit a free throw with 2:14 left, and Hoover swished a pair from the line at the 1:21 mark to make it a one-point game.
With 46 seconds left, Neumann found sophomore Taylor Ibarra all alone on the baseline, and Ibarra’s shot hit nothing but net for Pratt’s first lead of the night at 26-25.
The Lady Greenbacks would take that edge into the fourth quarter, and Hoover’s free throw line jump shot with 7:34 left made it 28-25 Pratt.
But Ulysses responded with ten straight points courtesy of several Pratt turnovers, and suddenly the Lady Tigers were up 35-28 with 3:10 to play.
“We started getting tight,” PHS coach Dean Rausch said. “Times like that are when your seniors step up. They had five seniors, and our young kids just got a little tight. When that happened, they took advantage.
“It’s a game of runs. We had a little run, and they countered with a run,” he added.
Hoover converted a three-point play with 2:51 to go, getting Pratt back within striking distance down 35-31.
But with 1:03 on the clock, Ulysses sophomore Kaylea Britton broke loose for a layup and it was 37-31 with time running out on the Lady Greenbacks.
With 41 seconds left, Pratt missed a free throw, but Staats stole the outlet pass and that led to a putback by Hoover with 30 seconds on the clock.
The basket pushed Pratt back within four at 37-33, but Ulysses senior Janni Meirhoff hit a pair of free throws with 22 seconds to go, effectively sealing the win.
Early on, points were hard to come by at either end as both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm.
Neumann’s layup with 5:29 to go wound up being Pratt’s only points of the first quarter, but Ulysses wasn’t much better, scoring just four in the opening eight minutes.
In the second quarter, Britton got a steal and basket, then Hoeme answered with a baseline shot of her own after Staats stole the ball from Britton.
Later in the quarter, Ulysses made a run to go up 12-6 with 2:26 left, but Pratt countered with five straight points to get back within one on Hoover’s outside shot with 1:11 to go.
The Lady Greenbacks’ run also included a free throw by Hoeme and a pair of charities from Neumann.
A basket by Anthony sent the Lady Tigers into the locker room with a three-point halftime lead as both teams struggled to score in the opening half.
The scoring didn’t get much easier to come by in the second half, as Pratt wound up hitting 12 of 34 shots (35.2 percent) for the game.
“We just have to find some kids to put the ball in the hole,” Rausch said. “When we do that, we’re going to be super competitive.”
Ulysses was five-for-nine in the third quarter and six of seven in the fourth, boosting their field goal percentage to 47 percent.
Pratt, which played without freshman post player Payton Hoeme (knee injury) had a 23-21 rebounding advantage, but turned the ball over 25 times to 23 for Ulysses.
Hoover paced the Lady Greenbacks with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Neumann added seven points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Hoeme chipped in five points while Blankenship had three points, three boards and three steals.
Staats added five steals, four rebounds and two points while Ibarra scored two points off the bench.
Ulysses got 15 points and six rebounds from Jarnagin while Britton added eight points and seven rebounds.
The Lady Tigers (12-9) will move on to face top-seeded and top-ranked Cheney (21-0) in Thursday’s semifinal round at Kingman.
Pratt finishes the season with a 7-13 record. The Lady Greenbacks will return four players with starting experience, and several others saw varsity playing time this season.
“We’re losing two really good seniors, but we’ve got some good kids coming back,” Rausch said.
In addition to returning sophomore guards Whitney Amaro and Grace Fellhoelter, both Hoemes, Hoover, Ibarra, junior post player Samantha Snell, and several freshmen with varsity experience, Pratt should see the return of sophomore guards Cheyenne Becker and Avery Neumann for the 2010-11 season. Becker missed this season with a knee injury while Neumann sat out due to a back injury.
Ulysses 39, Pratt 33
PHS: Aubrey Hoover 5 4-4 14, Ashton Neumann 1 (1) 2-5 7, Rystal Hoeme 2 1-2 5, Brooke Blankenship 1 1-2 3, Taylor Ibarra 1 0-0 2, Dominique Staats 1 0-1 2, Grace Fellhoelter 0 0-0 0, Samantha Snell 0 0-0 0, Whitney Tilley 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 (1) 8-14 33.
UHS: Jayde Jarnagin 5 5-5 15, Kaylea Britton 4 0-3 8, Janni Meirhoff 2 2-2 6, Courtney Anthony 2 0-0 4, Mandy Spencer 2 0-1 4, Jackie McCauley 1 0-0 2, Amanda Langley 0 0-0 0, Samantha Monzon 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 16 7-11 39.
P 2 9 15 7 — 33
U 4 10 11 14 — 39
