Demons’ 4th quarter all the difference

WASHINGTON - Sunday's Super Bowl featuring a 21-point fourth-quarter rally by the Kansas City Chiefs for the win over the San Francisco 49ers seemed to be a rallying point for the Washington high school basketball teams Monday.

Both the girls and the boys teams trailed nonconference opponent Mid-Prairie starting the fourth quarter and both Demon teams won.

The girls faced a 37-26 deficit and won 45-41 with a 19-4 final frame. The boys trailed 43-41 and won 61-47 with a 20-4 ending stanza.

The combined Washington fourth quarter advantage was 39-8.

'I wish we didn't have to leave it until the fourth quarter,” WHS boys coach Collin Stark said. 'This was a grind and I don't know if it was because it's the day after the Super Bowl, but we did not have enough energy throughout the game. Our fourth quarter was all about our defensive effort.”

'This is not the norm. This is special,” WHS girls coach Shannon Rugg said. 'This is a special group of girls. I don't know what it is but there is something special.

They enjoy playing the game together. They don't care who gets the glory, they don't care who scores, they just want to win. Competing and finding a way to win basketball games are what special teams do. Between quarters, I told them, ‘hey we've been here before,' so we cranked it up and did what we needed to do.”

The Demons had trailed Burlington Friday by 11 points in the fourth quarter and eked out a 46-44 win.

Mid-Prairie had to play without Maddie Nonnenmann, who left the game after making 1-of-2 free throws with 2 minutes, 30 seconds remaining and Mid-Prairie up 39-37. She finished with 25 points. With 2:03 remaining in the third quarter, she had 24 points and Washington had 22.

'I don't know if she fell on her arm or what happened,” Mid-Prairie coach Danny Hershberger said. 'She had to leave to go get it checked out. Obviously that is a big loss for us, especially the way she was playing. She had everything going.”

Nonnenmann hit five 2-pointers and 4-of-4 free throws in the first half, then sank two more twos and a pair of threes in the third.

'The threes are somethings she has added to her game and her offense was a big boost for us,” Hershberger said. 'We struggled when she wasn't out there. I am so proud of the way she competed.”

Anna Nacos had nine of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to lead Washington. Addison Six scored 14 points and had four of her five rebounds in the fourth quarter. Kinsey Duwa led the Demons with 11 rebounds and made 3-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter.

The Demons were 18-of-37 from the foul line in the game.

'It was nice to be far enough ahead that the free throws missed were not that important,” Six said. 'I knew we needed those rebounds so that they would not have a second chance to put the ball back in. It took off a lot of pressure. I just put my mind to it and went after it.”

In the boys game, Washington led 19-17 after one quarter, 31-29 at halftime, but Carter Harmsen made a bucket at the third-quarter buzzer to give Mid-Prairie the lead.

Trevor Quigley hit a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter and finished with 17 points to lead the Demons. The Demons had a four-point lead with five minutes left.

He also buried a trey out of a timeout that gave Washington its first double-digit lead.

'We have leaders on this team,” Quigley said. 'Luke Turner is one of them and he got us on a run. I think we just got on his back and did what we could to help the team. It was all about putting together a team win.”

Turner finished with 10 points and Brock Sobaski had eight with Ethan Patterson going for 12.

'We stepped it up a notch offensively,” Stark said. 'We started reversing the basketball to take up time and it resulted in layups. I think the guys are starting to realize we don't have to shoot after one or two passes. I think our defense and our free throws is what allowed us to separate ourselves in the fourth quarter.”

Harmsen and Jack Baker went for 10 apiece and Aidan Rath notched nine points.

'We let our defensive intensity lapse,” Mid-Prairie boys coach Darin Lambert said. 'We did not commit that many turnovers, but I think half of them were in the fourth quarter. Washington started getting aggressive. We did not do a good job of keeping them out of the lane. We were a little impatient on offense. It's not a good mix to not play great defense and then turn the ball over on crucial possessions, especially against a good basketball team. I have to tip my hat to a team that's won as many games as they have. They stepped up to the challenge. Coach Stark has done a great job here and they responded to adversity when they faced it. We were in it for three quarters and we have to do a better job of finishing the game.”

Washington is 12-4 and host Ft. Madison Friday while the Mid-Prairie boys are 3-13 and the girls are 6-11. Both play at Wilton tonight.

Washington's girls are 11-5 and play at Fairfield tonight.

'Finding ways to create turnovers, finding ways to create shots and picking up the defensive intensity are things that a team does when they are committed to winning,” Rugg said. 'We are enjoying it and we will continue to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.”