The Hailey girls hadn't played a close game in the early portion of the 2004-05 prep girls' basketball campaign, so there was no reason to expect that 4A Wood River could keep up with 5A Skyline Tuesday in Hailey.
But coach Brent Carnduff's Wolverines have been working hard and it showed in their 43-36 loss to Skyline—a game that was within three points with two minutes left in the fourth quarter thanks to an amazing 13-2 Wood River run in the final period.
Sophomore Kristen Miniard (10 points, 6 rebounds) poured in 7 points in the fourth and senior co-captain Alexa Alberdi (11 points, 2 assists) drained a pair of 3-pointers in the Wood River rally that made it close.
Wood River (0-4) out-rebounded Skyline 13-7 in the final stanza and out-pointed the Grizzlies 17-11. It was the biggest offensive quarter of the season for Hailey, and Carnduff was encouraged by the offensive surge.
Carnduff said, "We needed to be in a game and know we could do it. It was a big step for us—to be able to get through the press and into our offense and get the open looks."
Skyline (1-2), coming in after 12-point and 19-point home losses to Madison and Hillcrest, threw a half-hearted defensive press at a Wolverine squad that had been pick-pocketed by the full-court pressure of Century, Hillcrest and Bonneville in early 22-point, 23-point and 48-point setbacks.
Carnduff said, "It was hard to see the progress we were making with the Hillcrest and Bonneville games, but we definitely made some. We tried a variety of press breaks in practice and found one we liked, and we did a better job with the press tonight.
"It was the first game we've been able to get the ball in and down the floor." For the entire game, Wood River made only 19 turnovers, compared to 30-and-more in the squad's first three games of the campaign.
Still, the Hailey offense struggled in the first half, coming away with only two field goals and facing a 21-11 deficit after two periods. Ice-cold shooting was primarily responsible, but the Wolverines were getting looks.
Keeping Wood River in the game was an aggressive zone defense that limited the Grizzlies to only seven points in the second quarter. Carnduff said, "We decided to get away from our 2-3 zone and go to a 1-4, which is pretty much a 1-3-1. It was easier to challenge their shooters out of it."
Skyline drilled three of its four 3-pointers in the third and stretched its lead to 14 points. At the break it was 32-19. That's when Wood River made its move, fueled by sharp shooting out of its invigorating motion offense.
Miniard got a good roll. Laura Johnson (8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals) blocked a shot. Alberdi sank her first 3-pointer, from Syringa Stark, then Stark (4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 assists) returned the favor by hitting a 17-footer for a 34-26 game.
Wood River's leading rebounder Jamie Stone (3 points, 9 boards) then came up with a big play by fouling-out Skyline's 6-3 junior Jessica McFadden (6 points, 7 rebounds). Stone made two free throws. The Wolverines shot 12-for-21 from the stripe for the night.
Miniard made the play that brought the pre-Thanksgiving crowd to its feet. She hauled down two offensive rebounds—pushing a field goal over the rim on the second—and converted the old-fashioned three-point play cutting Skyline's lead to 34-31.
Stone made a steal at midcourt and passed to Stark, who fed Miniard on the wing. Miniard scored for a 34-33 game. Skyline's Demi Dlouhy stopped the 9-0 run with a bank shot, then the Grizzlies benefited from a bad officiating non-call for a 38-33 lead. That was pretty much all she wrote.
Carnduff said, "Syringa played with a lot of confidence and Alexa was making things happen. Laura had a huge challenge playing against their two big girls and she did well. And we got a huge game from Kristen. We knew she could shoot and she did it."
Last Tuesday's exciting game in Hailey wiped out some memories of a recent game that wasn't so exciting—the 78-30 Wolverine loss to Bonneville in Idaho Falls Nov. 19.
Bonneville (10 3-pointers, 20-for-35 at the free throw line) completely dominated the mismatch. The Bees led 54-10 at the half. Third-ranked 4A Bonneville (5-1) has now won five straight games after its 60-54 loss to Bishop Kelly in the season opener.
For Wood River, Alberdi scored a team single-game season-high of 16 points including two 3-pointers and 4-for-8 from the charity stripe. Other Hailey scorers were Stark 5 points, Johnson 4, Stone 2, Sydney Leopold 2 and Lauren Morgenthaler 1.
Wood River entertains the #8-ranked Blackfoot Broncos (2-1) tonight, Wednesday on the Hailey hardwoods and then has its first Great Basin Conference West league game against the #4-ranked Minico Spartans (4-1) Friday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the Hailey high school gym.
Senior co-captain Alexa Alberdi has led Wood River with 16-point and 11-point scoring efforts the last two games.
Photo by David N. Seelig
