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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of December 18 - 23, 2002

Sports

Cutthroats throw caution to the wind

Beat Shoshone for the first time 
55-54, nip Richfield 34-33


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Watching a nine-point lead vanish in the final three minutes of a tight girls’ basketball game is enough to frustrate a fiery coach like seventh-year mentor Ryan Waterfield of The Community School.

The host Cutthroats, having jumped to a surprising 9-0 lead over the once-beaten and highly-favored Shoshone Indians, had answered every challenge and protected the lead deep into the fourth quarter.

Kristin Hickey hit the game-winning shot from about this same spot in last Tuesday’s 34-33 Cutthroat home win over Richfield. Express photo by David N. Seelig

 

Shoshone, trailing 54-45 with less than three minutes left, made a couple of putbacks, two free throws and an incredible three-point bank for a 54-54 tie.

It seemed inevitable that perennial Northside Conference power Shoshone, never beaten by the Cutthroats, would maintain its mastery.

Waterfield called several time outs during the meltdown. She tried to convey the right message that would cut through the doubts and worries.

She said, "Whenever the girls seemed to lose confidence, I would call time out. Once I asked them—Why play cautious now? We were playing real well, with a lot of maturity. The girls really wanted to win."

The message got through.

And win they did, when senior Erika Connelly made the first of two free throws with 13 seconds left and sophomore Jackie Goddard pulled down the biggest rebound of the night on Shoshone’s last gasp, a long miss.

The Community School, playing only five girls the entire game, never trailed and upset Shoshone 55-54 Friday at the Fish Tank. Connelly (9.2 ppg) finished with a season-high 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

It was a total team effort.

Kristin Hickey (8.2 ppg) added a season-high 14 points and 9 rebounds, Pauli Ochi 10 points, 4 boards and 5 steals, Goddard 9 points and 8 rebounds, and Jenny Rutherford 6 points, 4 steals and 4 huge assists.

The first-ever Cutthroat win over Shoshone also extended their winning streak to three games, all in league, which gave Waterfield’s team one more league win than all last season.

Jackie Goddard takes a Pauli Ochi outlet pass and hits a fast break basket giving the Cutthroats a 29-23 lead in the fourth quarter against Richfield. The Tigers scored the next 10 points for a 33-29 advantage, but the Cutthroats pulled out the win. Express photo by David N. Seelig

 

Only three days before, Hickey’s game-winning 10-footer with five seconds left had given the Cutthroats (3-2, 3-1) a thrilling 34-33 home win over Richfield—after they squandered a 10-point fourth-quarter lead.

It was quite a week. The outcomes were similar, but they were two completely different games.

Against Richfield, the Cutthroats trailed 12-7 after one quarter. Moving the ball well on offense and playing scrappy defense, the Cutthroats outscored the Tigers 16-5 in the middle quarters and led 23-17 after three.

Two Hickey baskets in the paint, on fine feeds by Connelly and Ochi, hiked the lead to 27-17 with 5:55 left. Richfield called time and installed its own pressing defense which did a lot of damage—a 16-2 run for a 33-29 Tiger advantage with a minute left.

The situation seemed dire.

Then Connelly rebounded a three-point miss by Ochi and was fouled. Erika hit the first of two. At 19 seconds, Ochi stole the ball on the trap at mid-court and outleted to Rutherford. Jenny passed to Connelly, who put it up and in cutting the lead to 33-32.

Hickey (8 rebounds) pulled down a missed Tiger free throw at six seconds and the Cutthroats had one more chance, an inbounds underneath the Tiger basket. Ochi made the pass, a lob, and Hickey calmly hit the game-winning jumper for the 34-33 win.

It wasn’t scripted. Waterfield said, "We had no time outs, and Richfield was in a man-to-man. The girls just adjusted well in a sticky situation."

Ochi (16.4 ppg with 16 3s) finished with 12 points, 4 rebounds, 8 steals and 5 assists. Hickey added 10 points and 8 boards, Goddard 5 points and 10 rebounds, Connelly 5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 4 assists.

Caitlin Cairncross had 2 points and 4 rebounds, Rutherford 3 boards, 2 steals and 2 assists. Leading Richfield was junior Michelle Schmidt with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Shannon Meyer chipped in 13 boards.

On Friday, Shoshone (7-2, 3-1) came to the Fish Tank fresh off a 22-point win over Carey. The Indians had beaten 3A Kimberly and Gooding, and 2A Valley by 10 points.

But Shoshone was staring at a 15-6 deficit after one quarter as the fired-up Cutthroats jumped to a 9-0 lead—and Connelly had the hot hand with 9 points in the first quarter alone.

"We’re usually a second-half team because we have five girls who played soccer and they’re in good shape. But we had talked a lot about what we needed to do to become a first-half team," Waterfield said.

Hickey scored 8 points in the second quarter as the withering Cutthroat press caused problems. Passing well, Waterfield’s squad deftly handled the Shoshone press well in the third—and continued to play strong defense.

Ochi’s three-pointer, from Goddard, upped the lead to 46-37 early in the fourth. Rutherford’s follow shot on Ochi’s missed shot kept the lead at nine points, 54-45, before Shoshone made its last incredible rally.

Meghan Sorensen of Shoshone, who sank the game-tying three-pointer, led the Indians with 15 points, Katie Strunk had 14 and Sarah Hubsmith finished with 13 points.

The Community School travels to Carey tonight, Wednesday, hoping to avenge a five-point loss Dec. 3.

 

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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.