Stags Playing Well as Season Nears Conclusion

The Deer Park Lady Stags took a huge step toward the programs first ever league championship last Saturday with a nail- biting 58- 57 overtime victory over Freeman in a battle of top ten ranked programs.

After Deer Park scored the first four points of the contest the visitors lead 13- 12 after one quarter as senior Darian Herring contributed a three pointer and three of her team leading eight assists.

The stingy Deer Park defense held the Scotties scoreless for the first 6: 30 of the second period and lead by as many as five but settled for a single point margin at intermission 20- 19.

The largest lead of the game was enjoyed at 37- 29 late in the third but Freeman would not go away as the margin was five at the end of three periods, 37- 32.

The lead was trimmed to one at 39- 38 as Freeman completed a 9- 2 run early in the final stanza. A late three- pointer by the visitors forced an extra period.

In the extra period Allie Garry drew a key charging call and the Deer Park defense turned the Scotties over on a traveling call with 37 seconds remaining. Two free throws by Brooklyn Coe with 20 seconds left pushed the margin to four at 58- 54. Freeman connected on an uncontested triple as time expired.

Garry enjoyed a fine effort, spending much of the evening camped at the charity strip where she connected on 15 of 22 attempts totaling 27 points to go with a team high eight rebounds. Herring added 16 points and was key on defense with six steals. Coe was also in double- digits with 13 points.

On Tuesday, at Newport, the basket must have seemed as big as an ocean as the Lady Stags put up 62 points on their way to an 81- 29 road win.

Coe took high scoring honors with 23 and added six rebounds, while Herring has 19 points. Deer Park shot 59 percent from the field.

The boys spilt their pair of contests last week, beginning Tuesday at Newport.

Following an 18- 18 stalemate after the opening period, the Stags dominated the middle two quarters by a 44- 17 margin on their way to a 70- 45 triumph.

For the first time on the season, a quartet of Stags finished in double- figures on the scoring tally.

In Stapf led with 24 points including putting an exclamation point on the with a breakaway dunk. The senior wing also recorded six rebounds. Seth Hickman had 18 points to go with nine boards as the senior post continues to average a double- double. Cole Krepcik had ten points and was tops with three assists. Junior Braydin Harper got his first career double figure scoring effort and double- double in the same evening with ten of each.

On Saturday, Freeman came to town in a rematch of the league opener.

The game was knotted at 4- 4 before the visitors closed on a 7- 2 run for an 11- 6 lead at the end of one period.

Just when the Scotties looked to be in command, leading 18- 8 the Stags charged back behind senior starters Hickman, Stapf and Krepcik. Deer Park closed the half, turning the tables with a 15- 5 run, capped by an acrobatic steal and score by Stapf to knot the score at 23 going to the locker room.

As in the first meeting, there was a key stretch in the third quarter. With the score tied at 33, Freeman closed on a 7- 1 run capping a 14- 5 closing run to end the period.

Midway in the final period, Krepcik took a feed from Harper to cut the lead to four at 46- 42, but the visitors closed out the win on a 8- 3 tally.

Stapf led with 15 points adding eight boards while Hickman had 14 points and a dozen rebounds.

Conesecutive road trips to Lakeside and Medical Lake await before senior night against Riverside on the 31st and a season ending trip to Colville after that.