Archbishop Murphy girls keep vow to win

YAKIMA—The Black Hills Wolves were doomed from the opening tip.

One night after falling to the Ellensburg Bulldogs on the opening day of the 2A girls state basketball championships, Archbishop Murphy was not going to lose. It was a pact that they made with each other in the locker room before the game.

And they delivered.

The Wildcats improved in every aspect of the game from their opening day loss and earned a 54-44 win in the loser-out consolation bracket game at the Yakima SunDome.

Thanks in large part to freshman Beth Carlson.

Carlson found herself on the floor quite a bit thanks to the foul trouble that seniors Savannah Fletcher and Megan Carlson found themselves in. So Beth stepped in for older sister Megan and made the most of it.

Carlson scored 17 points grabbed six rebounds and had one assist and one steal in the Wildcats’ victory. She also connected on eight of her 12 shots from the field.

“I’m really thankful for our guards,” Carlson commented, adding that it is the Wildcats guards who always find opportunities for her to score.

Carlson said that the team was fired up in the locker room before the game.

“We are not going home after our second game that is not how we are going to do this,” Carlson said.

One of the many positive qualities that the Archbishop Murphy girls have is that they are well-balanced, having a different leading scorer in many of its games. Today, it was Carlson.

Tomorrow … who knows?

Maybe Shelby Lyman, who has struggled so far in the state tournament, but did get a fast break lay-up at the end of the first half on a pass from senior teammate Sam Pettinger. Pettinger had a path to the basket, but instead appeared to try and get Lyman going.

“Sammy understands the game and understands what’s going on. That would be a typical Sam Pettinger play,” Archbishop Murphy coach John Barhanovich said.

Lyman, one of the Wildcats’ best 3-point shooters, shot 1-for-7 from 3-point range in the game against Ellensburg and had missed her first four in Thursday’s game when she knocked one down in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Lyman and the rest of her teammates on the floor exchanged smiles as the senior broke out of her slump.

“It’s huge; she is a good 3-point shooter. I told her at halftime to keep shooting,” Barhanovich said. “I think you saw smiles on the entire Murphy side on that one.”

Pettinger added eight points and seven assists and Fletcher chipped in eight points and 10 rebounds.

“The more balanced we are, the better off we are going to be,” Barhanovich said. “It was a nice team effort, a little bit more like we normally play.”

The Wolves were paced by junior Sara Meyers, who shot 6-for-11 from behind the 3-point line and scored 20 points.

With the win, the Wildcats advanced to another loser-out game today against Squalicum at 10:30 a.m.

“We play another day as they say,” Barhanovich joked after the game.

At the Yakima SunDome

Black Hills6151112—44

Murphy1518147—54

Black Hills—Sauls 3, Pottschmidt 0, Hennie 4, Zimmerman 0, Campbell 2, Meyers 20, Jenkins 1, Martin 0, Mortenson 2, Haskey 12, Hall 0. Archbishop Murphy—B. Carlson 17, Ericksen 0, Lyman 5, Bartholomew 5, Begert 0, Vincent 3, Pettinger 8, Fletcher 8, Rasmussen 2, Maher 0, Rebich 0, M. Carlson 6. 3-point goals—Pettinger 2, Vincent 1, Lyman 1, Bartholomew 1, Meyers 6. Records—Black Hills 13-12 overall. Archbishop Murphy 23-3.