Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Parke swish slams brakes on Richfield streak

Carey girls rally past Tigers 39-36


By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer

Carey High School senior Jessica Parke drives to the basket during November’s pre-season jamboree in Hailey. Photo by David N. Seelig

With six seconds left in a 36-36 game, the Carey girls' basketball team had the ball and worked the inbounds pass pretty much as they wanted. They wanted leading scorer Jessica Parke to take the shot.

They had nothing to lose, after all, Carey hadn't beaten Richfield in six years. And the battle was all uphill Friday night at Carey School gym.

Just twice, only in the opening minute of the game, Carey had led the Northside Conference showdown with the reigning State 1A Division 2 champion Richfield Tigers. Carey trailed by 11 points in the first. It wasn't until 54 seconds left that Carey tied the game 36-36.

Parke inbounded and got the ball to fellow senior Amy Ellsworth. She looked for freshman Jaide Parke as time ticked down. Wisely, Parke found her older sister Jessica with a pass on the baseline to the far right of the basket.

The Richfield defenders didn't come out quickly enough and Parke had a clear look.

Jessica launched a 3-pointer, putting her whole 5-5 frame into the shot and falling backwards. And she seemed the most surprised person on the floor and in Carey gymnasium when the shot went in—a swish as the buzzer ended the game.

Carey capped its comeback 39-36 to snap Richfield's 34-game winning streak dating all the way back to the 2008 state tournament. Parke's game winner snapped a streak of 17 straight Carey losses to Richfield dating to Jan. 10, 2003.

The win was a new and welcome feeling for fourth-year Carey coach Lane Durtschi, who hadn't beaten Richfield in eight games. He said, "We'll take it—we played great defense. First time we've beaten Richfield since I've been here."

Richfield went 25-0 last winter and beat Carey three times. This winter, the Tigers are averaging 58.4 ppg chiefly because of the uncanny outside shooting of senior Teenie Kent (25.1 ppg, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 7.1 steals per game). She has 32 3-pointers for the season, 159 for her four-year career.

That's a lot of 3-pointers.

In contrast, Carey has one senior starter, Jessica Parke. But she's one of the school's all-time best, with 824 career points (10.7 ppg) and 27 career 3-pointers. Parke (18.1 ppg this season) has surpassed Kami Peck (793) for second place on the all-time Panther list.

She's just a steady, grind-it-out team player—and her match-up with Teenie Kent was something to see Friday.

Carey's triangle-and-two defense focused special attention on the Kents from Richfield—Teenie Kent and sophomore Sasha Kent. For most of the game, Jessica Parke defended Teenie Kent, and freshman Angela Ellsworth went man-up against Sasha.

"I think we wore them down in the first half," said Durtschi, whose team's 13-6 second-quarter run cut Carey's deficit to 22-19 at the half. Except for a Teenie Kent-fueled 8-0 Tiger run in the third, Carey stayed within striking distance.

"By the fourth quarter the Kent girls were tired, you could see it," said Durtschi.

In the first period, Teenie Kent looked unstoppable.

Durtschi assigned Jaide Parke to cover her in the opening four minutes, but it probably wouldn't have mattered who was covering Kent. She was unconscious, scoring 14 of her game-high 26 points in the first period. She made four of her first five shots including two very long 3-pointers. The basket must have seemed as big as a good-sized trash can to her.

Richfield's biggest lead was 14-3 when Jessica Parke switched over to defend Kent.

Carey pecked away, its road back stymied by turnovers (19) and missed shots. Durtschi said, "Richfield is able to jump into our passing lanes and get some of those turnovers. We don't often see teams like that."

But four Panthers scored in the 13-point second quarter as Carey dominated the boards 13-6 led by Micaela Adamson (5 boards in the second period alone) and Amy Ellsworth. Refreshed after the break Teenie Kent pumped home two more of her four 3-pointers and Richfield's 8-0 run made it 33-24.

Durtschi called time and Carey went back to basics—relentless defense, pounding the boards on offense and penetrating Richfield's defense.

Amy Ellsworth (9 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists) scored a putback, then Jaide Parke (5 points, 4 boards, 3 assists) crashed the offensive glass and passed to Jessica Parke, who hit a 16-footer for a 33-28 game after three periods.

Early in the fourth quarter, Amy Ellsworth came up big again, popping out on the baseline and taking dishes from Angela Ellsworth and Jaide Parke for 16-foot and 18-foot jumpers and a 36-34 game. It remained a two-point game with two minutes remaining when Teenie Kent made a steal, but she missed a 3-pointer.

Carey brought the ball up and got a major shot in the arm from two of its younger players—Jaide Parke getting a favorable bounce on a 13-foot jumper after a nice pass from sophomore Adamson (3 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists). Parke's shot tied it 36-36 with 54 seconds left, then Adamson rebounded another Tiger miss.

The Panthers slowed their offense for one shot, which they never got because of a Teenie Kent foul. But they got the inbounds pass with six seconds left. "It worked out pretty much the way we planned it," said Durtschi. "Jessica was going to pass it back to Amy if they came out and covered her, but they didn't, and Jess shot it."

Other Carey contributors were Angela Ellsworth (3 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) and Candace Hennefer (2 boards). Carey out-rebounded Richfield 40-22. Other Richfield players were Sasha Kent (5 points, 2 steals, 2 assists), Mirian Rivas (5 points, 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists) and Breanna Brockman (5 boards).

Carey (6-2, 3-0 league) stayed unbeaten in four home games and will return after Christmas to yet another big Northside test, at Dietrich (8-1, 2-0 league) Tuesday, Jan. 5. Dietrich is #1, Richfield (7-1, 2-1) is #2 and Carey #3 in the Idahosports.com poll, but Carey is the only one with an important league victory under its belt.




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