Beyerlin’s clutch threes stun Spartans
Published 8:59 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
Whitney Beyerlin’s two consecutive clutch three-pointers, the second of which came with less than a minute to play in the game, lifted the Mount Si Wildcats to a 61-60 victory over the Skyline Spartans in Kingco 3A girls’ basketball action last Wednesday at Mount Si High School. Combined with Issaquah’s loss to Bellevue, the Wildcats trail the Valley Division leading Indians by just one game as of the Valley Record’s deadline.
Nicci Landdeck scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Wildcats, but the big story of the game was Beyerlin’s clutch shooting.
“They weren’t really going in [during] pre-game and they weren’t really going in [during] the first half. But [teammate] Rachel Travis just kept telling me to keep shooting and they’d go in eventually – and with luck they did,” said an elated Beyerlin, a sophomore who scored all nine of her points in the fourth quarter.
Mount Si coach Dirk Hansen credits a worry-free game plan for Beyerlin’s clutch touch.
“I tell all my girls that a bad shot is a lot better than a bad pass. At least a bad shot has a chance of going in. I give all my girls the green light to shoot the ball, and in previous years it hasn’t been easy to get them all to shoot the ball,” said Hansen. “But they know they’ve got the green light from me, and so the result is they play relaxed and they don’t have to worry about looking over their shoulder at me.”
Skyline’s attack was balanced, led by the efforts of senior wing/guard Danica Dougherty, who scored 12 points, while junior guard Laura Payne and fellow junior post Christine LaBrie chipped in 10 points apiece to help Skyline. Travis, a sophomore, paced Mount Si with 14 points.
The first half was tight the whole way. The Wildcats bolted out to an early 9-2 lead, but the Spartans, with strong defense, came back little by little. Skyline tied the game at 12-12 with 2:03 left in the first quarter before Mount Si re-took the lead, which they had at the end of the quarter, 16-15. It remained tight in the second quarter with several lead changes and ties before Travis hit a desperation buzzer-beating three-pointer from half court, which gave the Wildcats a 33-31 lead at halftime.
For the complete story, pick up a copy of this week’s Valley Record
