Osky slows Demons to a halt

They had the look they were looking for, but it wasn?t meant to be on Wednesday night.

The Washington girls? basketball team saw a last-second opportunity narrowly miss in their regional quarterfinal against Oskaloosa, and as time expired, the Demons saw their season end with a 36-34 loss at home.

The loss gives the Demons a final regular season record of 10-11, a four win improvement from last year.

?It?s a season where we overcame a lot of adversity,? first-year Washington head coach Jordan Bentley said. ?That?s what you want to see in a team that is rebuilding and we?ve accomplished that. This isn?t the way you want your season to end, but we made a lot of great strides this year.?

Oskaloosa slowed the tempo of the game down considerably, using long possessions to keep Washington out of a rhythm, and making every possession much more important.

That method hurt the Demons who turned in a 26.1 percent shooting performance from the field, despite getting the Indians? top player into foul trouble and only committing 10 turnovers.

?We knew that we had to get (Alexis) Westercamp in foul trouble, which we did, and rebound the basketball, which we did, and take care of the basketball, which we did,? Bentley said. ?Everything we wanted to do really happened, We just didn?t make the shots we needed to make.?

Washington was led by senior Addie Pacha?s 14 points in the contest, while grabbing six rebounds, as five seniors, who all played significant time for the Demons, will graduate after this year.

?I thanked them for everything they did,? Bentley said. ?It?s an adjustment getting used to a new coach, especially one you didn?t get to workout with over the summer. I thought they were open all season long to new ideas. We did a great job of establishing what their legacy is.?

Bentley was also quick to thank all the fans and his fellow coaches for a strong season, as they look forward to the offseason, where they hope to continue building.

?We have to keep moving forward,? Bentley said. ?We had 10 wins this year and we want to have more next year. We want more commitment in the weight room and more commitment to coming in and working on the little aspects of the game. We are going to make strides and we have the key kids in place.?