Women's Stellar Effort Falls Short

If ever a team deserved to win a game on the virtues of their performance, it was the Beavers on Wednesday night.  Playing only seven players, three of whom were fighting the flu, Pratt put together a gut-check performance that ultimately succumbed to fatigue at the end of an inspiring evening of basketball.  After Garden City put back a layup to tie the game with 1.8 seconds left, the Beavers could not hang on and pull out the overtime win, falling to Garden 70-79.
 
Executing a disciplined and highly effective offensive strategy, the Beavers were down by only one at the half.  This in spite of Garden's shooting 60 percent from the field.  Pratt shot only 37 percent, but hit 12 of 14 from the line for 86 percent.
 
In the second half, Pratt improved their field goal shooting to 40 percent while limiting Garden to 36 percent.  Pratt also hit 4 of 6 threes for 60 percent.  However, while they hit 86 percent of free throws in the first half, that fell to 4 of 13, or 31 percent in the second. 
 
Pratt lost the battle of the boards 29-56, but had 18 points off of threes to Garden's 9.  Pratt also turned the ball over 18 times to Garden's 13.
 
Holly Martin, who had missed shoot-around due to the flu, led all scorers with 22, eighteen of which came in the first half.  Martin was only 6 of 20 from the field, but 10 of 14 from the line.  Whitney Bates, who had 15, shot 50 percent from the field, going 6 of 12.  That included a stretch of 8 straight points with two minutes left in the game.  She made both of her threes in that stretch, but could not continue that at the line.  Also in double figures were Ann Pauly and Laramie Lawrence with 10 each.
 
Pratt is still fighting to move up in the standings if they can pull off a couple of road wins in their final three games. That opportunity will next present itself in El Dorado on Saturday, when the Beavers take on Butler at 6:00pm.