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Pirates beat Lapwai for state title
Whoever came up with the basketball adage that “free throws win championships” could have been talking about the Prairie Lady Pirates as they scored more free throws than their opponents attempted in all three games at the 1-A, Division 1 State Tournament in Nampa on their way to the ninth state championship in school history. Prairie opened the tournament by knocking off unbeaten Hagerman 47-33. Next they held off Grace 49-43. Finally they met old foe Lapwai in the state championship game and won 56-40. It was the fourth time they met Lapwai in the state title game, winning in 1997 while losing in 1989 and 2002. Prairie’s 9 state titles are tied with Coeur d’Alene, who also picked up their 9th this year, as the most for a girls team in Idaho. Coach Lori Mader joins Art Dorval, Don Hoffman and Chris Wren as a 2-time winner. Gordon Heath was coach for the other state champion.  She
then picked up her second foul and went to the bench. Prairie then scored
the next 8 straight points. Kayla Schumacher scored the first 3 and Kyndahl
Ulmer the next 5 for a 13-8 lead at the end of the quarter.
Hagerman coach took a chance to stem the tide and put Knight back in late in the first quarter and it backfired as she picked up her third foul, sending Ulmer to the free throw line with 11 seconds left in the quarter. In the second quarter Prairie could have built a huge advantage but missed a ton of lay-ups. Fortunately for them, with Knight out of the game, Hagerman shot even worse, hitting just 2 of 17 shots, both of those putbacks by 6’4” Aly Sauer. The second of those cut the Prairie lead to 15-13 but Schumacher and Ulmer responded with 2 baskets each to give Prairie a 23-16 halftime lead. Hagerman was able to pull back within 4 in the third quarter at 27-23 with 3:45 left but a steal by Schumacher led to a lay-up and Ulmer added a free throw and Nicole Wemhoff a steal and lay-up to make it 32-23. Knight also picked up her fourth foul in that stretch. Prairie led 34-25 late in the quarter when Sauer finished off the quarter with a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 34-28. Keely Schmidt opened the fourth quarter scoring with a 1 handed bank shot but Knight responded with a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 36-31. A steal by Schumacher led to a lay-up by Krystin Uhlenkott. Schumacher followed with a putback to make it 40-31 and Prairie then scored the next 7 straight points at the free throw line. Hagerman didn’t score again until the final seconds when Knight added a basket. Ulmer wound up with 17 points while Schumacher scored 16. Uhlenkott added 7 with Schmidt scoring 4 and Wemhoff 3. Prairie dominated on the boards 46-37 with Ulmer and Schumacher both completing double-doubles with 15 and 11 rebounds respectively. Schumacher had 5 steals and 2 assists while Ulmer had 5 blocked shots. Prairie was 17 for 49 from the field, 35%, and 13 for 27 at the line, 48%. Hagerman was 12 for 54 from the field, 22%, and 4 for 9 at the line, 44%. Hagerman had 14 turnovers and Prairie had 12. Knight, despite sitting out about half the game, had 13 points to lead Hagerman while Sauer had 9 points and 16 rebounds. Prairie 13 10 11 13 -47 Hagerman 8 8 12 5 -33 Prairie-Holthaus 0-1, 0-0, 0; Wemhoff 1-4, 1-3, 3; Schumacher 7-18, 2-4, 16; Ulmer 5-13, 7-12, 17; Uhlenkott 2-11, 3-4, 7; Schmidt 2-2, 0-3, 4; Wilson 0-0, 0-0, 0; Gimmeson 0-0, 0-0, 0; VonBargen 0-0, 0-0, 0; Danly 0-0, 0-0, 0; Tidwell 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-none. Hagerman-White 2-14, 0-0, 5; Knight 5-9, 0-0, 13; Crist 0-8, 3-4, 3; Sartain 1-9, 0-3, 2; Sauer 4-11, 0-0, 9; Locklar 0-3, 1-2, 1; Palermo 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-Knight 3, White, Sauer.  Grace
scored first on a 3-pointer by Kyrie Christensen but Prairie responded
with a lay-up by Schumacher and a 3-point play by Ulmer to take a 5-3 lead.
The lead changed hands twice more with Grace leading at 5-7 and 8-10, the latter after a 3-pointer by Kate Skinner. Schumacher then scored a left-handed lay-up to tie the game at 10. A blocked shot by Ulmer on the defensive end then led to her scoring inside at the other end to give Prairie a 12-10 lead. Schumacher added a pair of free throws to give Prairie a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Uhlenkott stole the ball early in the second quarter and was fouled as she missed a lay-up. She made both free throws to make it 16-10. Ulmer then drew a third foul from Grace’s 6’ post Danielle Prowell and made both free throws. Wemhoff added a free throw and Schumacher a basket to complete a 13-0 run that put Prairie up 21-10. Grace scored the next 6 points to cut the lead to 5 at 21-16 but Prairie added 4 free throws to close out the half and give the Pirates a 25-16 lead at the break. Ulmer scored 2 while Hailey Danly and Uhlenkott each added 1. Grace came out strong in the third quarter with Prowell scoring 6 straight points. Ulmer also picked up her third and fourth fouls in that run and went to the bench for the final 4:16 of the quarter. Uhlenkott scored a lay-up on a feed from Danly to break the scoring run and then Danly added a pair of free throws to put Prairie up 29-21. Schumacher scored Prairie’s next 7 points and Uhlenkott and Schmidt each added a basket as Prairie outscored Grace 15-9 while Ulmer was on the bench. Prairie took a 40-30 lead into the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Windley tried to bring the Grizzlies back in the fourth quarter as she hit a pair of baskets to open the quarter and cut the lead to 6 at 40-34. Danly responded with a driving lay-up and Ulmer scored a free throw to put the lead back at 9. After a basket by Prowell, Schumacher scored a free throw and Wemhoff connected on a drive to the hoop after a Grace turnover to put Prairie back on top by 10 at 46-36 with 3:44 left. Windley connected on a leaning 3-pointer and Christensen turned a steal into a lay-up to trim the lead to 46-41 with 1:54 left. Schumacher scored inside and Wemhoff hit a free throw to give Prairie a 49-41 lead with 59 seconds left. Grace added a basket but Prairie was able to run out the clock. Schumacher scored 17 to lead the Pirates and just missed another double-double with 9 rebounds. Ulmer had her second straight double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Uhlenkott scored 7, Wemhoff 6, Danly 5 and Schmidt 2. Rebounding was even at 44-44. Prowell had 15 to lead Grace with Skinner adding 11. Uhlenkott, Ulmer and Schumacher each had 3 steals as Prairie forced 22 turnovers from Grace. Prairie committed 17. Wemhoff had 3 assists. Prairie was 15 for 45 from the field, 33%, and 19 for 34 at the line, 56%. Grace was 18 for 57 from the field, 32%, and 2 for 7 at the line, 29%. Prairie 14 11 15 9 -49 Grace 10 6 14 13 -43 Prairie-Holthaus 0-2, 0-0, 0; Wemhoff 2-3, 2-5, 6; Schumacher 6-14, 5-9, 17; Ulmer 3-9, 6-10, 12; Uhlenkott 2-5, 3-4, 7; Schmidt 1-4, 0-0, 2; Wilson 0-5, 0-0, 0; Danly 1-3, 3-6, 5. 3-pointers-none. Grace-Skinner 1-6, 0-0, 3; Christensen 2-5, 0-1, 5; Prowell 7-11, 1-4, 15; Matthews 0-1, 0-0, 0; Windley 6-21, 0-0, 14; Weaver 0-2, 0-0, 0; Kap 1-5, 0-0, 2; Sorensen 1-6, 0-0, 3; Bitton 0-0, 0-0, 0; Harrison 0-0, 1-2, 1. 3-pointers-Windley 2, Skinner, Christensen. 
It also didn’t hurt that the two southern Idaho referees weren’t intimidated by Lapwai and called a lot of the stuff Lapwai normally gets away with. Past Lapwai teams have usually backed off when they are getting whistled for those fouls but this team kept it up and it led to a huge disparity in fouls and free throws as Lapwai was called for 27 fouls leading to 42 free throw attempts while Prairie was called for just 10 fouls, leading to 13 attempts. Prairie’s first two points of the game came on free throws by Schumacher who then added a putback for a 4-0 lead. Lapwai came back with a 0-9 run on a 3-pointer each by Erin Ramsey and Iris Domebo plus 3 free throws by Ramsey when she was fouled a 3-point attempts. Prairie came back to tie it by the end of the quarter as Schumacher hit 3 of 4 free throws and then a lay-up to make it 9-9 at the quarter break. Schumacher scored all 9 first quarter points for Prairie. In the second quarter Prairie scored just 3 baskets, 1 each by Schmidt, Ulmer and Schumacher, but took a 22-16 halftime lead as they connected on 7 of 9 free throws. Meanwhile Lapwai struggled to find the basket as they hit just 3 of 15 shots in the second quarter after a 2 for 11 first quarter. In the third quarter Lapwai twice cut the lead to 4 but Prairie responded. With 5:03 left in the quarter Domebo picked up her 4th foul and that led to a basket by Wemhoff. Uhlenkott then hit a free throw and 35 seconds later a putback and Ulmer added a putback and it was 31-20 with 2:56 left in the third. Lapwai’s Cyra Cunningham then helped rally the Wildcats back with 7 points and Marquel Shawl converted a 3-point play that cut the lead to 32-30 with 25 seconds left in the third. Ulmer scored on an inbounds play to make it 34-30 at the end of the quarter. Lapwai cut the margin to 1 when Ramsey hit a 3 to open the fourth quarter but a jumper from the elbow by Wemhoff and 2 free throws by Ulmer put Prairie back up at 5 at 38-33. A basket by Cunningham was answered by a 3-point play by Schumacher when she scored on a putback. Ulmer then added 2 more free throws to make it 43-35 with 5:57 left. After 2 free throws by Cunningham made it 45-38 with 4:15 left, Prairie went on a 6-0 run, all free throws, to take a 51-38 lead. Schumacher and Uhlenkott each hit a pair at the line then Schumacher and Wemhoff each hit one. After Lapwai’s Taylor Whitney scored, Prairie ended the game with a 5-0 run, all at the line as the final score was their biggest lead of the game. The final point came from Sky Wilson after Lapwai coach Shawn Spencer, who took over as head coach at Lapwai the year following Lapwai’s last state championship win over Lapwai, was hit with a technical foul. In all, Prairie hit 16 of 21 from the line in the fourth quarter and 30 of 42 for the game. It probably didn’t hurt that several of the Prairie players from the 1997 team that beat Lapwai for the title were in the Idaho Center watching the game. Point guard Sarah Remacle Walsh was coaching while Beth Klapprich Cegnar, Amy Funke Gehring and Renee Arnzen Rehder were all seen in the stands. Schumacher and Ulmer wound up as the leading scorers with 17 points each and each had a double-double with 13 and 15 rebounds respectively. Wemhoff scored 7 while Uhlenkott scored 6 with 11 rebounds. Holthaus scored 3 and Danly, Wilson and Schmidt added 2 points each. Prairie dominated on the boards 51-31. Wemhoff had 5 steals, 3 in the fourth quarter, and 4 assists. Prairie committed just 14 turnovers in the game while Lapwai had 16. Prairie was 15 for 51 from the field, 29%, and 30 for 42 at the line, 71%. Lapwai was 14 for 52 from the field, 27%, and 8 of 13 at the line, 62%. Prairie ends the season with 21-4 record. Prairie 9 13 12 22 -56 Lapwai 9 7 14 10 -40 Prairie-Holthaus 1-6, 1-2, 3; Wemhoff 2-5, 3-4, 7; Schumacher 4-14, 9-11, 17; Ulmer 4-14, 9-10, 17; Uhlenkott 1-5, 4-9, 6; Schmidt 1-3, 0-0, 2; Danly 0-1, 2-2, 2; Wilson 0-2, 2-4, 2; Gimmeson 0-0, 0-0, 0; VonBargen 0-0, 0-0, 0; Uptmor 0-0, 0-0, 0. 3-pointers-none. Lapwai-Ramsey 3-9, 3-3, 11; Shawl 2-5, 1-3, 6; Domebo 2-9, 0-0, 5; Whitney 2-8, 0-0, 4; Cunningham 4-11, 4-7, 12; Holt 0-2, 0-0, 0; Wilson 0-2, 0-0, 0; Young 1-5, 0-0, 2. 3-pointers-Ramsey 2, Shawl, Domebo.
 Ulmer is WPL D-1 player of the year Kyndahl Ulmer was recently named the White Pine League Division 1 girls player of the year while Lori Mader was named the coach of the year. Ulmer was joined by Kayla Schumacher on the all-league first team. Krystin Uhlenkott was named to the second team while Leah Holthaus received honorable mention. In Division 2, Rachael Frei of Summit was named to the all-league first team. Megan Rehder, Megan Seubert and Sarah Chmelik were all named to the second team. PIRATES GIRLS BASKETBALL SCHEDULE FOR 2013-14 *indicates league game 22-23-Lakeside Tournament, beat Kellogg JV 56-16; beat Lakeside 65-45 26-Kendrick, here, 1/2 JV game, won 63-23 5-C.V., there*, V only, 7 p.m., won 59-27 10-Troy, there*. won 56-18
10-Grangeville, there, JV at 3:30, V at 6:30 (quad with boys team), lost 44-51 11-Potlatch, there*, won 83-36 14-C.V., here*, won 60-29 17-Lapwai, here*, won 64-57 18-Genesee, here*, won 55-24 21-Kamiah, there*, rescheduled from Dec. 16, won 74-13 25-Genesee, there*, won 60-42 28-Kamiah, here*, won 72-11 31-Potlatch, here*, won 83-32 6, 7, 8, 10, 13 -District at LCSC, won 58-44 over Genesee; lost 44-51 to Lapwai 20-22-State at Nampa-beat Hagerman 47-33, beat Grace 49-43, beat Lapwai 56-40 - STATE CHAMPIONS!! |
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