Lavinder’s late FTs sink Fife, give No. 4 White River girls another 2A SPSL Mountain title

Even with more than 500 wins under his belt, coach Chris Gibson will remember this one for a long time.

His undermanned White River High School girls basketball squad truly gave him a team effort.

With three starters down, including both point guards, Gibson and the Hornets had to play players they normally don’t — and call on ball-handlers who normally are shooters.

But in the end, the fourth-ranked Hornets survived Fife, 53-49, in Buckley.

White River (14-4, 11-0) not only won its 53rd consecutive game against 2A SPSL opponents, it captured its fourth divisional crown Friday night.

“We had brand-new kids who came into the mix tonight,” Gibson said. “And I am so proud. This is a testament to the program. We have a lot of depth.”

The Hornets also have a reliable scorer in Georgia Lavinder, who canned four 3-pointers — three coming in the third quarter — and tallied a game-high 19 points.

Lavinder’s three-point play gave the Hornets a 51-47 lead with 1:14 to go.

But Fife (10-7, 8-3) answered with two free throws by Kaylin Fietz, and got the ball back on Sofia Lavinder’s offensive foul at midcourt.

Trojans point guard Christina Willis, who impacted both ends with 12 points, 13 rebounds and seven steals, squeezed a pass inside to Fietz, who had a wide open look at a short bank shot. But the ball circled around the rim and fell off with 42 second to go.

“If we make that, it is a different game,” Fife coach Shane Patrick said. “We outplayed them, I felt.”

Georgia Lavinder was fouled with 13.9 seconds remaining, with the Hornets still clinging to a 51-9 lead.

It was a one-and-one situation.

Nervous?

Not really. She swished them both to wrap up a victory.

“In practice, we have a game where we see how many (free throws) we can make in a row,” Lavinder said. “My most is 84.”

BOYS BASKETBALL

No. 6 Fife 74, at White River 39: Cooper Schelbert knows how his father, Mark, is after big losses on the basketball court at Fife High School.

“He was a little intense,” Schelbert said. “But that intensity in practice helped us today.”

It showed up in the form of pristine long-range shooting.

The Trojans made a school-record 13 3-pointers, led by Schelbert’s seven shots, and Fife buried the Hornets in Buckley.

This came on the heels of a 66-48 loss to Foss on Tuesday that snapped a nine-game winning streak.

Schelbert finished with a game-high 23 points. Eli Graham added 14.

This story was originally published January 19, 2018 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Lavinder’s late FTs sink Fife, give No. 4 White River girls another 2A SPSL Mountain title."