Third quarter struggles end Miners season

Photos by Josh McDonald Kimmie Krous pushes the ball up court for the Miners.

Wallace senior Sierra Brantz pulls up for a jump shot during the Miners 41-32 loss to the Troy Trojans on Wednesday night. Brantz finished the game with a team high nine points.

by JOSH McDONALD
Local Editor | February 9, 2017 2:00 AM

Wallace senior Sierra Brantz pulls up for a jump shot during the Miners 41-32 loss to the Troy Trojans on Wednesday night. Brantz finished the game with a team high nine points.

POST FALLS — The Wallace Miners girls' season came to what can only be described as a premature end Wednesday night when they fell to the Troy Trojans 41-32 at Post Falls Middle School.

Troy, the third seed out of the White Pine League came into the contest as the No. 4 team in the state for 1A Division I, but that didn't seem to faze the Miners at all.

The game opened up with Troy seemingly taking full control as they took a commanding 12-4 through the first six minutes, but Wallace stormed back to finish the quarter down one, 11-12.

The second quarter belonged to the Miners as they carried their momentum into the period and took a 22-19 halftime lead.

Now there is a concept that a lot of basketball pundits use and that is you can tell a lot about the rest of the game by the first four minutes of the third quarter (or second half in college).

Troy was in the position that they were either going to continue to play into the Miners' hands, or they were going to retool their game plan.

They did the latter.

The Trojans owned the third quarter, as a matter of fact it was the third quarter that won them the game.

Wallace simply couldn't get shots to drop; shots rolled around the rim, into the rim, basically everywhere they could go on the hoop except through the net — and at no real fault to the Miners, who were getting good looks at the basket.

Outscoring Wallace 12-2 in the third frame and taking a 31-24 lead, all the Trojans did in the fourth quarter was patiently move the ball and take no chances on defense to secure the win and move them one step closer to the state tournament.

“It was a great game,” Miner coach Chris Lund said. “The first half was a great game to coach and watch, but we came out flat in the second half, especially in the third quarter. These girls played their hearts out though and had Troy on the ropes. I am very proud of each and every one of them.”

That third quarter will probably haunt coach Lund throughout the offseason as he once again goes to the drawing board when it comes to handling the teams from the WPL.

“If you take the third quarter away we win the game by one,” Lund said.

The Miners were led in scoring by Sierra Brantz who scored nine points in her final game as a Miner. Meanwhile Kimmie Krous chipped in seven points as part of the Miners' balanced scoring attack.

Beside Brantz, Wallace will lose Maryssa Hogamier, Tristin Krous and Hannah Shepperd to graduation as well.