Girls Basketball: Knox’s Cinderella ride comes to an end

Updated: February 18, 2012 9:44PM

RENSSELAER — For two quarters, it looked like the Cinderella ride for Knox still had at least one more fairy tale ending.

And then the stagecoach turned back into a pumpkin in the third quarter of Saturday’s first semifinal of the Class 3A Rensselaer Regional and Western pulled away for a 49-39 victory.

The Redskins weren’t supposed to win their sectional. Heck, they were just trying to win a game or two after starting the season 2-10. But they finished strong, won their first sectional in 17 years, and were only down 20-18 at halftime to Western (18-6).

“We wanted a game in the 40s and that’s what we had,” Knox coach Dan Huizenga said. “Western turned up the pressure in the second half and it looked like we panicked a little.”

After taking care of the ball well for the most part in the first half, Knox (13-12) had four turnovers in the first three minutes of the third quarter, and seven total in the period. The Redskins also added turnovers on the first two possessions of the fourth quarter, and three more in the next three minutes.

“There were three or four minutes where we had a lot of unforced turnovers,” Huizenga said. “I don’t know what got into their heads.”

Knox had a lead as big as six in the second quarter on the strength of its free-throw shooting. It had missed 3-of-6 to start the game, but hit six straight — two each from Shelby Gilbert, Hope Wagner and Nikki Frasure — to take a 17-11 lead before Western finished the half on a 9-1 run.

Wagner led all scorers with 14 points, while Gilbert added 11. Nicole Rogers led Western with 12, but that was about five points under her season average and she only had five at halftime.

“Hope did a great job on (Rogers),” Huizenga said. “We told her it would be her toughest job defensively all year.”

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