>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

WALKING HOME: Shoshoni Walker and the Bobcats saw their productive season come to a close Friday night. Union finished the regular season undefeated in Blue Mountain Conference action. - The Observer/BRUCE MASON

No. Not for this team.

Not for this team who tore apart the Blue Mountain Conference. Not for this team who had a good chance to add another championship banner atop the Union High rafters.

But it did.

No. 5-ranked Kennedy came into Union on Friday night, upsetting the No. 4 Lady Bobcats, 49-48, spoiling the fun of an energetic fan base, spoiling the run of this varsity basketball team.

No more games. No more face painting. No more supportive, energetic crowds.

Season’s over? Season’s over.

Undefeated in league play.

Defeated in postseason play.

Unfortunately, it’s the latter that’s remembered most.

Special start

It looked special at the start. Here was Union, igniting the crowd with a 9-1 run to open the game. Nine to one!

There was junior Ali Anderson, spotting, shooting, scoring.

Look, there’s Anderson again, cutting underneath the basket, dishing to sophomore Jessy Reynolds, who sank two points.

They pressured in the full court. They disrupted Kennedy all over the floor.

They made victory look so certain.

Here they were again, ripping off a 9-2 run. They led by nine at the half. They led by seven entering the fourth quarter.

But that was 24 minutes.

And there was eight left to play.

When it got away

It started like a snowball rolling down the mountain —harmless at first, but then it picked up speed, leading to danger.

Two Union turnovers translated into five Kennedy points.

Missed rebound for Union. Two more Kennedy points.

“If they lose this game ...” one fan said.

No way, right?

Here was another Kennedy three-pointer. Then a missed Union three-pointer.

And before you knew it, that Union lead translated into a tie game, that certain victory was in dangerous doubt, and so was the season.

Last two minutes

“We just told the girls to be patient,” Union coach Brett Dunten said.

“We weren’t patient when we needed to be, and we were too patient when we needed not to be.”

After Shoshoni Walker put Union ahead by two with 1:26 left, Reynolds made a block on the other end.

But Union turned the ball over — not displaying that patience.

With 39.3 seconds left, the Trojans’ Natalie Fleck was fouled by Reynolds, sunk one free throw, cutting the deficit to one point. She would miss the second free throw, but the rebound became a battle of wills, and Kendra Wavra wrestled it away from Union, and may have wrestled away its season, too.

Jump ball.  Kennedy possession on the baseline.

Fleck took the ensuing inbound, buried it off the glass, and just like that, it was 49-48 Kennedy with 35 seconds left.

It was all it needed.

So then Kennedy was inbounding from deep inside their own territory with 10.3 seconds remaining.

One second passed, no inbound pass. Two seconds. No inbound.

Then the whistle blew.

And the crowd roared.

“That’s Five !!!” screamed the referee, signaling a five-second violation on Kennedy.

So the Bobcats had the ball.

And life.

The final possession

Hearts thumped. Palms were sweating.  The season was hanging on this possession.

Here came the ensuing inbound pass, with the clock ticking away precious seconds. It came into Reynolds. She spun, she faded, she shot, then she watched it glance off the side of the backboard with 4.4 seconds left.

And that was it.

Union, at that point, had several fouls to give before it could put Kennedy in the bonus at the free-throw line.

“I think that was probably (Dunten’s) mistake — he wasn’t in the bonus,” Kennedy coach Jo Cho said. “He probably could’ve stopped the clock even more — and count on us missing foul shots.”

“I was glad they weren’t in the bonus. That really helped us.

“He should’ve been fouling earlier. Especially when he was down.

“But I don’t think he thought that we had a shot, to tell you the truth.”

Said Dunten: “We should’ve fouled earlier, knowing it was a close game.”

But in hindsight, did you think the game was in hand — being up nine points in the second half?

“I thought the game was in our hands ... yeah,” he said. “We just told the girls to be patient and use the clock.

“I thought that’s where we let it get out of our hands, out of our control.”

An unfair finish

They came in wearing red and white painted faces, arms and bodies. They proudly wore those Bobcat colors on bandannas, socks, stirrups, beads and sunglasses, too.

But then they wore disappointment on their faces, exiting the gym.

Season’s over?

Season’s over.

The school named after the guy known for “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” came in and walked out victorious.

Kennedy heads on.

Union heads home.

And the Bobcats really deserved a better fate.

“We should be playing next Wednesday,” Dunten said. “But we let a game slip out of our hands.

 “We should’ve had it. We had it from the tip.

“Obviously a huge disappointment.”

KENNEDY (49)

Jaeger 0 0-0 0, Donohue 0 0-0 0, Eder 3 2-4 9, Regimbal 0 0-0 0, Bochsler 8 0-0 20, Hettwer 1 0-0 2, Fleck 6 2-3 14, Halter 0 0-0 0, Dye 1 1-2 4, Wavra 0 0-0 0, Geddes 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 5-9 49. 

UNION (48)

Courtney 0 2-2 2, Josephson 0 0-0 0, Roberts 0 0-0 0, Reynolds 5 0-2 10, Walker 1 6-9 8, J.Longwell 0 0-0 0, Stratton 0 0-0 0, Williams 2 3-4 7, Anderson 6 4-4 17, Poe 1 0-1 2, S.Longwell 1 0-0 2, Graves 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 15-22 48. 

Kennedy   10 10 12 17 - 49

Union        13 16 10  9 - 48

Three-pointers: Kennedy, Boschler 3, Eder, Dye; Union, Anderson.