January 18, 2013 @ 10:35 pm
In a battle for second place in the Narrows 3A, the Lincoln Lady Abes fell victim to the white-hot second-half shooting of Timberline’s Sarah McKee in a 54-53 loss at home tonight – the second one-point loss for the Abes against the Blazers this year.
McKee scored 24 of her game-high 29 points in the second half, and nailed six of the Blazers’ eight three-pointers on the night to lead the way for Timberline.
The Abes led 11-6 on Precious Hunkin’s put-back early in the second quarter, but McKee’s first trey of the night gave the Blazers their first lead at 13-11 with six minutes left in the half. Ki-Renee Armstrong – who hit four three-pointers on the night for Lincoln and finished with 15 points – answered with a three for the Abes, but the Blazers’ Sara Bowen nailed two threes of her own later in the quarter to help give Timberline a 25-20 halftime lead.
McKee then exploded in the third quarter, hitting four threes in just over two minutes, the last of which gave Timberline a 37-27 lead with five minutes to go in the period. But the Abes crawled right back, as Precious Hunkin got a nice pass from Kayla McClean for a layup with a minute left and Armstrong drained another three to cut it to 40-38 heading into the fourth. Freshman Tamia Braggs then gave the Abes their first lead of the half at 41-40 by battling for a rebound and converting a three-point play, which set the tone for a back-and-forth final quarter.
But after Lincoln took a 45-43 lead on Breneya Johnson’s layup with under four minutes left, the Blazers rattled off the next seven points, capped by McKee’s final three-pointer with two minutes left. Armstrong responded again with another three for the Abes, and her trey with 18 seconds left cut it to 52-51. But McKee hit two free throws on the other end for a three-point lead, and the chance for a tying three for Lincoln rattled out and was put back in on Braggs’ layup to leave the Abes one point short.
Hunkin had a team-high 17 points for Lincoln, while Braggs added 11 points and 11 rebounds and Johnson had six points and seven rebounds.
