WOODLAND — It’s almost impossible to declare that one foul midway through a fourth quarter can carry a significant amount of weight in a basketball game.
Black Hills discovered the hard way that anything is possible.
Tyler Venable, a three-time EvCo first-teamer and the Wolves’ leading scorer, was called for her fifth foul after a Mark Morris rebound in the District 4 2A Tournament semifinals in Woodland Monday night. She was sent to the bench in a 39-39 game with four minutes and 26 seconds left.
About four-and-a-half minutes of gametime before that fifth foul, Venable picked up her fourth foul on a call that shocked the entire gym, even some of the Mark Morris faithful.
But after that fatal fifth penalty, the Black Hills Wolves were never the same. Haley McMahon answered a Monarchs layup with a deep 2-point jumper to tie the game at 41 with 3:26 to go in the fourth, but Black Hills never scored again.
In that span, Mark Morris closed the game on a 14-0 run to sail to the district championship game and send Black Hills down to the consolation semis with a 55-41 win. The Wolves now need two wins in elimination games to clinch their first state bid since 2020.
“We lost our leading scorer, who averages 20 points a game. We’ve got two scorers and some other girls who are role players who do a really good job, but when Tyler was out, it hurt us big time in a big game like this,” Black Hills head coach Herb Guscott said.
The final 3:26 spoiled what was a strong start to the game for a Wolves team entering the district semifinals winners of seven of their last eight following a 7-7 start to the campaign. Black Hills scored the first six points of the night, with Ellie Johnson securing the first field goal two minutes in. The Wolves played mostly clean basketball in the opening quarter; they took a 20-10 lead and only turned the ball over on the final possession in the waning moments of the period. But, Venable, who combined with Natalie Buchanan to score 14 of Black Hills’ 20 points in the first, picked up two fouls in the first six-and-a-half minutes.
Still, Guscott was impressed with how his team started against the top team from the Greater St. Helens League.
“I think they kind of underestimated us a little bit,” he said. “When you look at us, we’re a small team. We were passing the ball well.”
The second quarter was all Mark Morris. The Monarchs limited Black Hills to only three points and one field goal in the frame and flipped the game on its head with a 15-3 run to take a 25-23 halftime lead.
Mark Morris post Mikaila Warfield scored nine of the Monarchs’ 15 points in the second, wearing down the Black Hills defense with her physicality down low. Paisley Fraidenburg gave the Monarchs their first lead of the night with a layup 2.5 seconds before the buzzer sounded. Venable scored all three of the Wolves’ second-quarter points to give her 10 in the first half.
“They started hitting some shots, and they started getting the ball inside to their big, who was tough,” Guscott said of Mark Morris. “I think we got a little tired. We don’t have a very big rotation. We got worn down a little bit.”
Kiki Makaiwi drilled a 3-pointer to open the second half, delivering Mark Morris its largest lead at five and extending the run to 18-3 dating back to the start of the second quarter. A Venable layup at 6:25 left in the third was the first Black Hills field goal in about eight minutes of gametime, but it helped spark the Wolves’ offense out of its funk. Buchanan knocked down a key 3-pointer to cut the margin to one, and she gave the Wolves the lead with a pair of makes at the charity stripe.
However, Venable was called for her controversial fourth foul with just over three minutes left in the third. Black Hills fans screamed at the referees, telling them that the foul should not have been called on Venable and instead on Cassidy O’Reilly. But, according to Guscott, the referee who made the call doubled down on the whistle when he explained it to the Wolves head coach.
“He said that Tyler fouled the girl from behind. You’ve gotta believe that it’s the right call,” Guscott said. “It was tough, though. Obviously, it hurt us.”
Both teams exchanged buckets late in the third, and the Monarchs got the last word in with a Reese Johnston triple with nine seconds left to put Mark Morris ahead 37-35 entering the fourth.
Venable, who sat on the bench for the final three minutes of the third, was on the floor to start the fourth, determined to will her team to victory without tacking on another foul for eight minutes. She was off to a solid start on that goal, scoring four straight to vault Black Hills back in front by two. Makaiwi tied the game with 4:42 remaining on a layup, and after a miss by Black Hills, Venable tried to strip the ball away from a rebounding Monarch and was called for her fifth and final foul. She threw her arms up in disbelief and headed to the bench.
On the ensuing possession, Mark Morris missed a shot, and as the Wolves were in transition on the other end, Guscott halted the fastbreak with a timeout. His team, rattled after watching its star leave the game, was in a critical make-or-break moment.
“Somebody’s got to step up. We’re not done,” Guscott said of his message to the team in a 41-41 tie with 4:09 to play. “Somebody’s got to step up and win the game for us. Go win an ugly game. The postseason is a different game. It’s more physical. It’s more slowed down. There are really low-scoring games. You’ve got to value every possession.”
Unfortunately for Black Hills, not a single possession went in the Wolves’ favor for the rest of the game. They were shut out for the final 3:26 of the game, turning the ball over five times and fouling Mark Morris six times, as the Monarchs scored 14 unanswered to race to the finish line.
“We threw away some possessions,” Guscott said.
Even after the gut-wrenching loss, Guscott knows the score doesn’t tell the whole story of the game. He is confident that Black Hills (14-9) can beat Ridgefield in an elimination game on Wednesday at Centralia High School and then finally win the elusive winner-to-state against either Columbia River or Woodland on Feb. 21 at Kelso High School. The Wolves have fallen one win shy of state in each of the last two years.
“I’m proud of the girls. They played hard. I can’t fault the girls. They’ve done everything I’ve asked,” Guscott said. “It’s been a tremendous group to coach, and we’re not done yet. We’ve still got a shot.”
