Looking to second half of district play

Graci Arci blocks a shot in the lane.

By Brian Besch
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The Lady Cats of Onalaska took a 53-46 loss to New Waverly Friday by the lake after entering halftime with a seven-point advantage.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter. New Waverly put up many more attempts through several offensive rebounds and turnovers. The teams combined for just eight points through the first six minutes of play, but both fared better over the final 120 seconds.

Doing a better job on the boards in the second quarter, Onalaska took a 25-18 lead into the break. Shots begin to fall for Shaylan Linear, Faith Tyerman, A.J. Pinkert and Mary Joy Cariaga.

New Waverly got back into the game in the third quarter, tying it at 31 apiece. To compound issues for the Lady Cats, scoring threat Pinkert fouled out of the game with a few minutes remaining in the third.

“We did some incredibly uncharacteristic things tonight and then got into foul trouble,” Lady Cat coach Doug Boone said. “Beyond all of that, we were 5-of-19 from the free-throw line. That alone is a description of how the game went for us. Despite all of that, we had a seven-point lead at halftime. We also had to pull Mary Joy off the court (in addition to Pinkert) with foul trouble.”

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New Waverly’s success would continue into the fourth, as turnovers continued to plague Onalaska. It allowed the Lady Dogs to erupt for 22 points in the quarter.

Linear and Cariaga both had 15 points to lead the Lady Cats, while Faith Tyerman had nine on three long makes.

“We have played so well this year,” Boone said. “A.J. Pinkert has been named all-tournament and Mary Joy has been named MVP of some tournaments. We’ve been real pleased, especially with how we have shot. We have some kids who are doing some milestone stuff. We played an exceptionally good Anderson-Shiro team and played Coldspring a tight game. Crockett was our other district loss.”

Boone said there were four teams tied for third place going into Friday night. Onalaska and New Waverly were in that cluster, making the loss sting a bit more. Crockett is just one game in front in second place, while Anderson-Shiro is leading the district by a comfortable margin.

Onalaska seems to be in a good position to make a playoff push, despite a 3-4 record through the first round of district play. Cariaga has four years of varsity experience and around 450 points for the season. The coach said she has made more than 50 3-pointers. He called Pinkert a disruptor on defense, who has taken some pressure off of Cariaga on the offensive end. Tyerman has hit 72 3-pointers and is one of the top shooters in the area. Linear has also been a strong presence in the scoring column. Graci Arce and Kelli Arce were praised for their defense.

The team has 15 wins on the season, after obtaining just six in 2022-23. Cariaga, along with Destiny Lindley are seniors, but the future is bright in Onalaska. A strong second half will get the group back into the postseason after missing last year. A trip to Anderson-Shiro on Tuesday will be followed by a home tip with Coldspring Friday.