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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington girls get first victory of the season over Albia
Demons hold off late Blue Demon push in first win of the year
WASHINGTON — Washington girls basketball did everything it needed to on Tuesday night to grab its first win of the season over Albia.
After a slow start gave the Blue Demons a narrow lead after one, Washington turned up the heat and never cooled off on its way to the 53-41 victory.
Washington just couldn’t seem to find a rhythm in the opening period. The Demons scored just seven points through eight minutes of action.
Despite struggling to put the ball into the basket early, the Demons defense kept them right in the mix. If not for a lay in with 34 seconds to go in the quarter, the Demons would have trailed just one. Instead they were down three, 10-7.
Albia continued to push the pace early in the second as they quickly turned a three point advantage into eight, 15-7, off a pair of free throws and a three ball from sophomore guard Lillian DeMoss.
From that point on, any sort of Albia momentum was erased as Washington took a hold of the reins.
With just over five minutes to go in the second period, a foul shot from junior guard Lauren Hinrichsen kicked started what would be a 14-0 run to the end of the quarter.
With 5:02 remaining, sophomore Adalyn Long converted an and one to cut it four and then fellow sophomore Addison Miller buried a three two minutes later to pull the Demons within one, 15-14.
Less than a minute later, Long finished yet another and one at the rim to give the Demons the lead. Junior’s Kendall Hinrichsen and Faith Salvador both notched twos with just over a minute to go to flip the game on its head.
In a complete swing, Washington went from down eight to leading by six, 21-15, at the break. They would never give it up.
Washington extended its lead to 10, 29-19, in the early stages of the third with a 8-4 run off a pair of threes from Long and senior Jacey Berg, along with a bucket from Maci Williams.
The Blue Demons followed with a run themselves, coming within five at 34-29, before a two free throws from sophomore Oaklee Sobaski pushed it back to seven heading into the fourth.
Albia thinned the margins even more to start the final period as a deep ball pulled it to within four at 36-32. Long dropped in the next two Washington buckets from beyond the ark though to keep the Blue Demons at bay.
With one final push, the Blue Demons fought to get back into it as four unanswered cut it back to four, 42-38.
To Albia’s dismay, Washington played nearly flawless in the final two minutes. Kendall Hinrichsen buried a three to start a 7-0 run by herself to the 1:11 mark.
Washington gave up just three points in the final minute as Sobaski hit two foul shots followed by two more points from Hinrichsen at the stripe.
Long finished with a team-high 15 points. Kendall Hinrichsen ended with 13 including nine in the final quarter. Sobaski tallied nine off the bench.
Washington moves to 1-1 on the early season and will take on Grinnell (1-0) Thursday on the road.
