By JASON EPP

Daily Leader

Wednesday, Anna McDonald was in the hospital being treated for bronchitis. Thursday she was released in time to watch her teammates suffer a 63-37 loss to Laverne. Friday her all around play was a huge key to Beaver advancing to the regional consolation championship with a 37-32 win over the Okeene Lady Whippets.

McDonald let everyone in the Seiling High School gymnasium know she was fine when she hit a three to open the Lady Dusters scoring.

Erin Becker scored six in the first, including a coast-to-coast layup, and helped the Dusters take an 11-9 lead at the end of one period.

Lauren Yauk hit her fourth three of the regional tournament to extend the Lady Dusters lead to 5, but Okeene battled back and only trailed by one with four minutes left in the half.

McDonald again, showed her athletic ability driving baseline for the basket and foul. Becker hit a floater on the Lady Duster’s next possession, and Beaver shutout the Lady Whippets the rest of the half to lead 21-15.

Amazingly, Beaver held the six point lead at half despite being outrebounded 10-1.

Okeene was able to cut the Lady Dusters lead to just two in the first minute of the second half, and Yauk had to head to the bench with her fourth foul.

Over the final two minutes of the third, Beaver pushed the lead to nine with a 6-0 run to end the quarter.

During that stretch McDonald picked off a Lady Whippet pass that Tristan McQuitty turned into points, Shelby Perry blocked a shot, and Erin Becker finished the quarter with a three after McDonald missed and got her own rebound.

Beaver’s largest lead of the game came two minutes into the fourth quarter when McQuitty put back her own miss to put Beaver ahead, 35-26.

But the Lady Dusters went cold as Okeene packed their defense in the paint and forced the Lady Dusters to shoot from the perimeter.

Raechyl Nault got the Lady Whippets within three with less that a minute left. Okeene struggled from the arc all night, where the finished the night 0 for 10. Okeene missed four on the next possession including one that went inside the cylinder that would have tied the game.

McQuitty and McDonald missed the front ends of one-and-ones, but Jordan Jesko made both on her trip in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Lady Dusters.

Beaver out-rebounded Okeene 18-11 in the second half with McQuitty and McDonald each grabbing 5.

The Lady Dusters finished the game 14 of 36 from the field, 3 of 9 from beyond the arc, and 6 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Erin Becker was 5 of 13 shooting and finished with a game-high 14 points. Anna McDonald was 4 of 8 for 10 points; Tristan McQuitty added 4 and Lauren Yauk 3.

Beaver advances to the regional consolation championship versus Cashion, Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The winner advances to the area tournament.