No problem, right?
Once Young’s Natasha Pointer decided to take charge in the semifinals of the Public League basketball playoffs Friday against Washington, Young found itself right back where it’s used to being–in the finals for the third straight year against Marshall.
But for a good portion of the Dolphins’ 55-49 victory over No. 15 Washington, Young fans were sweating profusely about their tournament future.
That’s because the No. 13 Dolphins (24-6) found themselves down 23-19 at the half against a very patient Minutewomen team that had minimized any damage Pointer could do by keeping the ball out of her hands as much as possible.
But this was a very different Washington team. The Minutewomen (24-6) were without their second-leading scorer, Jose Coles, who was lost for the season with a knee injury.
“We were playing not to lose,” said Young coach Arthur Penny. “We lost to them twice already. We were afraid. But Natasha came out in the second half and took control.”
Pointer scored 13 of her game-high 23 points in the third quarter on a variety of spin moves and drives.
As Natasha goes, so goes Young.
After a free throw put Washington up 24-19, Pointer scored the next six points and Young never trailed for the rest of the game.
“Penny just told me to keep pushing the ball down the court,” said Pointer. “That’s our game. As long I push the ball down the court, we win.”
“We just couldn’t stop Natasha,” said Washington coach Willie Byrd. “We played a good first half. You have to give her credit. She’s an All-Stater. She just took it right at our guards and took control of the lane.”
Until then, Washington had Young right where it wanted them.
The Minutewomen were getting the ball inside to Damita Evans and Michelle Artis, who combined for 10 first-half points, and point guard Sherry Oliphant was directing a very deliberate Washington attack.
In the second half, Pointer took over–and the Dolphins shut down Evans and Artis. Tyanna Jones and Evans led Washington with 14 points each. Clarissa Flores added 10 for Young.
In the other semifinal, it took a while but No. 12 Marshall finally shook off a pesky Hyde Park 70-56.
The Commandos (23-5) trailed 21-16 with 6 minutes left in the first half.
But a three-pointer by Kourtney Walton sent the Commandos on a 19-8 run, giving Marshall a 35-29 lead at the half.
Marshall expanded the lead to 12 by scoring the first six points of the second half. A basket by Hyde Park’s Malena Wilson with 4:45 left in the third quarter finally broke the drought for the Indians.
“They were very aggressive,” said Marshall coach Dorothy Gaters. “They didn’t take us by surprise. We knew how good they were. They did exactly what they had to do.”
Kourtney Walton led Marshall with 18 points and eight rebounds, freshman Kimya Murray scored 15 points and Sabrina Minter added 14.
