Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wolverettes Get Revenge Over Fountain Lake 67-54

Revenge is a dish best served cold, as the saying goes.

The Prescott Wolverettes gained a measure of revenge against Fountain Lake Friday night with a 67-54 win.

The fifth ranked Wolverettes, though, had their hands full as the Lady Cobras tried to slither off with a second victory against Prescott.

After the Lady Cobras won the tip and lost the ball, the Wolverettes drove downcourt and scored

The Wolverettes looked to be focused and ready after losing to Fountain Lake in December. Prescott jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Lady Cobras knew what hit them.

Prescott was all over the court, flashing in the lanes, slapping the ball away or picking it off.

Fountain Lake began packing the lanes on defense, blocking Prescott out and pulling down rebounds. The Lady Cobras first points came from the free throw line. With 5:50 left in the opening frame, Prescott led 5-1.

The Wolverettes had their running game going, while Fountain Lake preferred working the ball and running time off the clock.

But, Prescott's defense forced the Lady Cobras to shoot from outside as the interior lanes were a no-man's land of solid, physical play.

Andrea Cossey found her range early on and bombed away from beyond the arc to give Prescott a 12-8 lead with 3:30 showing.

For the last five minutes of the first period, the Lady Cobras were able to play with Prescott. Quarter one ended with the Wolverettes leading 19-16.

Prescott opened the second frame on the offensive with Cossey still bombing away and collecting treys right and left. She ended the game with 24 points and five three-pointers.

Defensively, the Wolverettes turned up the heat with their patented pressing and trapping attack. Wherever the ball was, a Wolverette was close by, usually more than one Wolverette was on hand as the Lady Cobras found moving the pumpkin to be a difficult task.

Prescott built its lead to 24-18 with 4:24 left in the half, when the Fountain Lake coach was hit with a technical foul after making a comment about an official's call.

Jessica Hendrix was at the line to shoot a pair of free throws at the time, nailing both. Cossey followed Hendrix and converted one of two of the technical freebies.

Along with the free throws, Prescott got the ball back. The five-point play was capped when Amanda Hodges found the bottom of the net at the other end of the court.

For the remainder of the half, Prescott went on a tear against the Lady Cobras, taking a 39-25 lead to the locker room.

Before the buzzer sounded, though, the Wolverettes were in "fun" mode, just having a good time dismantling the Fountain Lake five.

The Lady Cobras opened play in the third quarter by trying to slow the pace down. However, they turned the ball over and the Wolverettes scored when Stacy Stockton drove the baseline for a pair.

Prescott was hit with three quick fouls early on. This meant Coach Bill Cossey had to work around foul problems with Hodges, Hendrix and Jeania Haynie, rotating them in and out of the game to keep them from fouling out too early.

In the end, though, no one fouled out for Prescott.

The game, however, continued to be brutally physical inside and scoring was held to a minimum.

Period three came to an end with both teams adding nine points to their tally as the score read 48-34 for the Wolverettes.

Fountain Lake outscored Prescott in the final eight minutes, posting 20 on the board, while giving up 19, most at the line late in the game.

Action stayed hot and heavy with the Lady Cobras cutting Prescott's lead to six at 55- 41with 4:49 showing.

At the time, the Lady Cobras were in the bonus, but Prescott wasn't. Fountain Lake still had three fouls to give with 2:50 left in regulation, with the Lady Cobras trying desperately to get back into the game.

With the clock on Prescott's side, Fountain Lake began fouling indiscriminately to halt the flow of time. However, the Lady Cobras were unable to get the ball out of Prescott's hands until the magic number of seven had been reached on the foul side.

At the 1:14 mark Prescott led 59-53. There was time for a Fountain Lake rally, but the Wolverettes were having none of it. For the remainder of the contest, the Lady Cobras only hit one free throw.

By and large, the game came down to a free throw shooting contest, with Prescott being on fire from the charity stripe.

Stockton pushed the lead to 61-53 with a pair of free throws with 0:46 showing. Traci Graham followed with six straight free throws to ice the contest.

Meanwhile, when the Lady Cobras got the ball they fired blindly from beyond the arc. Prescott simply waited for the rebounds and subsequent fouls to ice the game.

The Wolverettes were near perfect at the free throw line as they connected on 20 of 23 attempts. Fountain Lake shot well, hitting nine of 13, but it wasn't enough.

Cossey led all scorers with 24 in the game. She was followed by Stockton, who stroked the cords for 14. Graham and Haynie each played string music to the tune of 10 apiece.

Roxann Starnes led Fountain Lake with 13 points. Amy Bates and Rebecca Thompson scored 11 each.

The Wolverettes have a problem as the regular season winds down. Graham is down temporarily with a case of mononucleosis.

Friday night Prescott hosts its final game of the season against Nashville. From there, the Prescott teams will be on the road, first to De Queen, Tuesday, Feb. 9, and winding up the season with a healthy trip at Mena, Friday, Feb. 12.

At this time, the Wolverettes are tied with the Lady Bearcats of Mena for first place in the conference.