YATES CENTER — We can assume Sisyphus of Greek mythology fame could empathize with Yates Center High’s girls.
The Wildcats, after struggling mightily to catch up with visiting Cherryvale Friday, finally did so early in the fourth quarter.
After trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, Yates Center’s Addison Solander connected from 3-point range to knot the score at 31-31 in the opening minute of the final frame.
Alas, just as Sisyphus saw the boulder slip back down the hill, Yates Center saw its hopes for victory slip away with a combination of bad passes, bad fouls and plain bad luck.
A 6 1/2-minute scoring drought, accentuated by three straight turnovers, and a pair of 3-point attempts that rimmed out, allowed Cherryvale to end the game on a 14-1 run to win 45-32 in the third and final round of Yates Center’s Wildcat Winter Invitational.
“Turnovers did it,” Wildcat head coach Abbie Collins said, noting the loss of starting point guard Hannah Jones to fouls didn’t help. “She really helps us go.”
Cherryvale kept things well in control, leading 14-4 after one quarter, before Yates Center began its slow climb back to even.
The Wildcats limited Cherryvale to a single bucket in the second period as part of a 14-5 run to close to within 19-18 at the break.
Cherryvale stayed just ahead after three, 31-28, leading to Solander’s equalizer, and then the Wildcat drought.
Cherryvale’s Morrigan Catlin scored inside before Kelsie Lantz drilled a 3-pointer to go ahead 36-31. Bethany Umbarger’s steal and layup followed for a 38-31 lead.
The Chargers left the door open a crack, missing seven straight free throws at one point, but Yates Center could not capitalize.
Morgan Collins, who led Yates Center with 16 points, hit a free throw in the game’s final minute, but that was only enough to cut the deficit to nine before Cherryvale ended the game on a 4-point run.
Solander added nine points, all on 3-pointers.
“The girls kept playing hard,” Coach Collins said. “We played much better than we did last time out. We’re a work in progress. We’ll keep getting better.”
Umbarger scored 18 and Lantz nine for Cherryvale.
Cherryvale (14-5-12-14—45) FG/3pt FT F TP
