Union-Bulletin

WALLA WALLA - Walla Walla Community College was unable to protect a four-point lead in the final minute of regulation time Wednesday night and dropped a 56-48 overtime decision to Spokane in an NWAACC Eastern Region women's basketball game in the Dietrich Dome.

The win kept the visiting Sasquatch tied with Columbia Basin atop the league standings. Both teams are 6-0.

Walla Walla dropped to 3-3 and 12-5 overall.

It appeared the Warriors were on their way to a victory when Leslie Stillar drained a 3-point field goal with 1:08 left in the second half that gave Walla Walla a four-point lead, 42-38. Stillar finished with 18 points for the Warriors.

But Spokane's Brooke Randall, who led all scorers with 26 points, hit a 3 of her own with 25 seconds remaining to make it a one-point contest, 42-41.

Over the next 19 seconds, the teams would combine for three makes from the free throw line. The Warriors led 44-42 with six seconds to go after a Stillar freebie, only of only two WWCC managed in eight attempts down the stretch.

Randall quickly negotiated out of the backcourt after that and advanced to the left wing on the dribble before colliding with a Warrior player. The contact resulted in a foul call with a half-second left.

Randall made both ends of a double-bonus opportunity from the charity stripe to send the game into overtime.

"In all my years of coaching (over 25 years), I've never seen a call with point-five to go in the game," WWCC coach Bobbi Hazeltine said. "We were all in disbelief and we didn't recover."

Walla Walla's fate was sealed early in the extra period. Trailing by four, 48-44, Walla Walla post Tai Jensen had a low-post bucket wiped out because of a traveling call - a whistle that infuriated Hazeltine.

Just a couple of ticks into the next Spokane possession, Hazeltine was assessed a technical foul for verbally unloading on official Randy Crady, who made both the foul call at the end of regulation and the travel call on Jensen.

"We had a great move by Tai underneath and got a travel call," Hazeltine said. "I lost it. It was due to a lot of pinned-up frustration because of what happened in regulation.

"I told the kids afterward ‘This loss is on me,'" Hazeltine said. "They said, ‘Coach, you didn't miss free throws.' If we make free throws down the stretch, it's not a game."

The Warriors made just 53 percent of their free throws (18-of-34) including 4-of-14 in the final minute of regulation and five-minute overtime frame.

Walla Walla plays at Big Bend on Saturday.

Spokane 56, WWCC 48

SPOKANE (56) - Buttrey 3-12 1-2 8, Tuttle 0-2 2-4 2, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Griffin 0-0 0-0 0, Tullis 0-3 2-3 2, Bourn 3-13 4-6 10, Brisbois 0-1 2-4 2, Abbot 3-4 0-1 6, Randall 6-19 10-16 26. Totals 15-55 21-36 56.

WWCC (48) - Dreadfulwater 2-8 3-6 8, Klarich 0-2 0-2 0, Wolff 2-6 0-0 5, Stillar 4-14 8-14 18, Pfefferle 2-4 0-0 4, Duncan 1-6 4-4 6, Humphries 1-2 0-2 2, Edmunson 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-2 1-2 1, Jensen 1-4 2-4 4. Totals 13-48 18-34 48.

3-point goals - Spo 5 (Buttrey,

Randall 4). Total fouls - Spo 30, WWCC 29. Fouled out - Spo (Tuttle, Brisbois, Abbot). Technical fouls - WWCC (bench).

Rebounds - Spo 51 (Bourn 14), WWCC 42 (Dreadfulwater 7, Pfefferl 7, Jensen 7). Turnovers -

Spo 21, WWCC 26. Assists - Spo 7 (Tuttle 4), WWCC 7 (Stillar 2).