TACOMA — The Prairie and Lincoln girls basketball teams are becoming quite the postseason rivals.
Wednesday was the teams’ fourth straight 3A bi-district tournament meeting and perhaps none was more fiery than a 44-42 victory in favor of the Abes of Tacoma, sending the Falcons to Friday’s 7:45 p.m. third/fourth-place game against Gig Harbor at Puyallup’s Rogers High.
But coach Hala Corral is certain about one thing: her Falcons will meet the Abes again.
When?
“It might be next Saturday the way RPI is,” the second-year coach said, referring to next weekend’s regional round.
Ah, yes, RPI. That’s a touchy subject with Corral, whose team entered Wednesday at No. 9 after its 52-point quarterfinal win over then-No. 8 Timberline. The Blazers have since rose to seventh.
But facing an opponent such as the Abes might’ve been much-needed, said Corral, even if it did snap a 15-game winning streak for Prairie. It also had teachable moments.
“This was great for our team,” she said.
Not so much moments in the game, though, such as 3 of 8 from the free-throw line (in comparison, Lincoln was 5 of 7).
And then there was the scoreless drought.
Prairie went 0-for-16 shooting at one point that stretched as far back as 3:43 left in the second quarter until Walling’s 3-pointer with 3:17 to go in the third that made it a 34-24 Lincoln lead.
If you’re counting at home, that was a 16-0 Abes run.
“We dug ourselves too big of a whole,” junior Brooke Walling said, “and we couldn’t get out.”
Walling had a game-high 19 points, including 13 in the second half that helped fuel the Falcons’ comeback.
That and something else that fueled the Falcons: a Lincoln technical foul that was part of a 5-point swing to end the third quarter to pull Prairie (20-3) within five to start the fourth.
Walling said the physicality of the Abes were unlike any 3A Greater St. Helens team nor any other team they’ve played this season.
“They’re not like any team we’re played this season,” she said.
Inside a minute to go in the third as the shotclock was expiring on a Prairie possession, a technical foul was called on Lincoln as Prairie players scrambled for the loose ball. That fueled the Falcons’ fire, Walling said, because of a possible injury to Allie Corral. She was taken out of the game but later returned.
Prairie erased a once-13-point deficit behind Walling and Lauren Vreeken (five points) to tie the game twice in the fourth. Walling’s jumper made it a 40-all game with 2:05 to play.
With the score 44-42 with 5 seconds to play and Walling in-bounding to Cassidy Gardner, Gardner kicked it back to Walling for a potential game-winning that was off the mark.
Gardner added eight — all in the first half — for Prairie, and Meri Dunford had six.
