Pirates nip Bulldogs

The play for the 3-pointer didn't materialize. Luckily for the Wheatland High girls basketball team, Bridget McClarrinon is quite a contingency plan.

Down 51-50 to Gridley, the Pirates hatched a plan to feed the ball to Hasti Makarizanden behind the arc. When she couldn't get open, McClarrinon took possession on the left baseline and made a clutch layup with 8 seconds to go. That proved to be the dagger in a 54-51 win at Farmer's Hall on Tuesday.

"I was really excited," said McClarrinon, who finished with 16 points. "It was our first close game where we really pulled through."

And the excitement hardly was limited to McClarrinon. It extended to the coaches and every player on the Pirates bench as they celebrated their first Butte View League win of the season.

"The first thing we said after the game was, 'We're 1-3.' We have our first league win."

But it didn't come easily. The Pirates stayed in the contest despite a 21-point performance from Gridley's Lily Struble and the Bulldogs' ability to shut down Kayla Woods — Wheatland's most physically dominant player. Woods finished with eight first half points and went scoreless after halftime as a result of picking up her fourth foul early into the third quarter.

"They shut down our best player," Wheatland coach Carlethe Embry said. She was hot and then she got into foul trouble."

With the Pirates' imposing presence out of the game, Struble had her way in the paint. With 4:50 to go in the third quarter she completely took over the game by scoring five consecutive baskets — all of which came inside the key. Her tear would turn a 34-26 deficit into a two-point Gridley lead.

"The players were coming to me saying, 'She keeps hitting everything,' Embry said. "I told them she can't do that all night."

She didn't. After exploding for 13 points in the third, Struble was held scoreless in the fourth as the Bulldogs started to control the inside and began driving the lane with proficiency.

"They did a great job on the baseline layups," Gridley coach Michelle LaViolette said. "Sometimes they made perfect shots and sometimes they just threw it up."

But what truly was the downfall for Gridley wasn't Wheatland's defensive prowess or even a clutch play from McClarrinon, it was their inability to sink easy shots and freethrows.

In the third quarter, Gridley missed a pair of 1-and-1 attempts that allowed the Pirates to climb back in the game and take a 40-40 tie into the fourth quarter. McClarrinon's heroics were set up after the Bulldogs missed a pair that would have given them a 3-point lead. And it wasn't much better in the first half after making just 4-of-19.

"They have to realize that from the beginning you need to hit your free throws," LaViolette said.

Gridley was left with a couple chances after McClarrinon's layup, but none would come to fruition. After Wheatland took a 52-51 lead, the Pirates stole Gridley's inbound pass. And after Wheatland padded the lead with free throws, Gridley's McKenna Cox took the ball downcourt with and fired up a 23-foot 3-pointer that fell short.

The effort pleased LaViolette.

"Overall I really liked how we played," the Gridley coach said. "We just have to make those free throws."