Union-Bulletin

MILTON-FREEWATER - Mac-Hi's Avery Wells scored the first basket of the game here Tuesday in non-league girls basketball action, but Waitsburg-Prescott took over from there.

A bucket from Alyssa Hafen tied it for W-P, and Genesis Pearson put W-P ahead for good at 4-2 with 5:10 left in the first quarter.

W-P stretched the lead to 16-5 after one and went on to post a 55-21 victory.

"We've been pretty sick the last week and didn't come in with much intensity," W-P coach Jerry Baker said. "The press worked and got us some easy shots. We got some easy baskets off of their press. Everything worked out well. A win is a win. We'll take a few days off and get healthy."

Six points each from Ronnie Hulce and Megan Withers, plus an opportunistic W-P defense that held the Pioneers to two Alyssa Riedel free throws, sparked W-P to a 17-2 second-quarter advantage and a 33-7 lead at the break.

Too much W-P defense held true in the third period. W-P stopped the Pioneers on an Avery Wells deuce, while the W-P offense, led by the six points of Dionna Baker, was connecting on 9-of-19 shot attempts, and W-P went to the fourth up 52-9.

Mac-Hi found some offense in the fourth as the Pioneers got four points from Wells and four more from Kaitlin Erm to spark a Mac-hi 12-3 run over the last eight minutes.

"We finally picked it up in the fourth quarter," Mac-Hi coach Casey Richards said. "We finally were able to see some open shots. We need to do that throughout the whole game."

Wells led the Pioneers with eight points and eight rebounds. Erm finished with seven. Eloiza Meza chipped in eight boards to go along with four assists.

"Their press really killed us," Richards said. "We fell apart as they had really good pressure on that press.

"Every game I see a huge improvement," she said. "It's frustrating to lose (like that). I tell them I'm proud of them, because they really do push hard."

Hulce, with 12 points, led a balanced W-P attack. Baker and Withers added 11 each and W-P improved to 4-0 on the season.

"I'm tickled to death where we are at," Coach Baker said. "We share the ball (11 assists on the night) and we've been doing that real well. That's good. We'll go from there."

The Pioneers travel to the Heppner Tournament next Tuesday and Wednesday.

W-P participates in the Helix tourney next Wednesday and Thursday.

W-P 55, Mac-Hi 21

W-P (55) - Goenen 1-3 1-2 3, Huxoll 0-4 1-2 1, Hafen 2-7 0-0 4, Harris 1-9 0-0 2, Hulce 6-14 0-0 12, Doepker 0-2 0-0 0, Withers 5-15 1-3 11, Cook 2-2 0-1 4, Pearson 3-6 1-1 7, Baker 5-7 1-1 11, Hofer 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 25-72 5-12 55.

Mac-Hi (21) - McElrath 0-3 0-4 0, Brannan 0-1 0-0 0, Meza 0-8 2-3 2, Riedel 0-1 2-2 2, Hinton 0-0 0-0 0, Erm 2-7 2-2 7, Ureno 0-0 0-1 0, Vaughan 0-1 0-0 0, Wells 4-9 0-2 8, Wilson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 7-32 6-14 21.

W-P 16 17 19 3 - 55

Mac-Hi 5 2 2 12 - 21

3-point goals - W-P 0-9 (Huxoll 0-1, Hafen 0-1, Harris 0-3, Withers 0-3, Hofer 0-1), Mac 1-11 (Meza 0-4, Riedel 0-1, Erm 1-6). Total Fouls - W-P 18, Mac 11. Fouled out - none. Technicals - none. Rebounds - W-P 34 (Hafen 5, Baker 5), Mac 38 (Meza 8, Wells 8). Turnovers - W-P 19, Mac 38. Assists - W-P 11 (Goenen 3), Mac 5 (Meza 4).