Demons grind out Panthers

Coming into the game, the Washington girls? basketball team only shot 57 percent from the free throw line, but the charity stripe is where the Demons emerged victorious on Friday night.

Taking on rival Mt. Pleasant, the Demons converted 13 of their 18 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter, finishing the game on a 14-5 run to escape with their second conference victory of the season.

?We?ve been working on them in practice, and we practice them at least three times a practice,? Washington senior Amber Salow said. ?We do game-like situations with a lot of pressure on us. That?s helped. We were more confident at the line.?

The win moved Washington to .500 on the season, before the Demons fell on the road to Center Point-Urbana on Saturday, leaving the Demons at 5-6 (2-2 in conference play). Mt. Pleasant falls to 2-7 on the year (0-4 in conference action).

?Individually, we have to step up,? Mt. Pleasant head coach Nick Maynard said. ?I?m talking everybody from the team to us as coaches. We have to pick ourselves up right now. We had a bad run at the beginning of the season where we played some tough teams, but we are falling short. Someone has to step up and be the leader on the team. We have some girls that I definitely think can take the leadership role on, but we are playing for February.?

The game started off strong in Mt. Pleasant?s favor, as the whistles were blowing in the Panthers? favor early, as Washington committed 11 fouls compared to Mt. Pleasant?s two in the first half.

Over that span, Washington kept it close, leading through the first quarter, but free throws helped the Panthers pick up the lead, 20-18, at halftime.

?We just needed to move our feet more,? Washington head coach Jordan Bentley said. ?We were clearly fouling, but in the second half, we made it more of an issue for them to call fouls against us because we were visually attacking the basket.?

In the second half, the foul disparity flipped, with the Demons only being called for five fouls, picking up 15, with most coming late in the game.

When the change happened, Maynard noted that his team didn?t adjust and Washington took advantage.

?We have to continue to play,? Maynard said. ?We can?t let the situation dictate how we play. Tonight we just didn?t have it in the second half. We got out of our funk a little bit, but we have to keep playing. We have to be able to help each other out and we didn?t execute and get that done.?

Washington continued to battle with the Panthers, tying them up at 30 in the early part of the fourth quarter, but the fouls started to pile up for the Panthers and the Demons won the game at the free-throw line.

The 14-5 run for the Demons closed the game, and Washington picked up a victory with no players finishing in double-digit scoring.

?It was a great team win,? Bentley said. ?Eight out of ten girls who played in the game, scored. You win games because of the team you have and how they come together. We were in foul trouble early, but we have a team that is growing. They are learning. We went to a stall game and they did that on their own. They are growing up a little bit.?

Washington was led by Salow?s nine points and four assists, while Addie Pacha also scored nine points, and grabbed 14 rebounds in the victory.

Mt. Pleasant was led by sophomore Kalynn Batey?s 12 points, while Brianna Shelman dished out four assists.

As a team, Mt. Pleasant shot 27.5 percent from the field.

Washington will take on Oskaloosa next Saturday at home, while Mt. Pleasant will be in action on Monday night when it hosts Mediapolis.