Poly's inconsistency exasperates coach Kendall Peace-Able. It was again a problem Friday night against visiting archrival Western.
It took the Engineers nearly six minutes to score a point, and they struggled in the third quarter, too, but scored 23 points in the second period and 20 of the game's final 26 points in the fourth to beat the No. 8 Doves, 55-49.
Talking about the puzzling inconsistency made Peace-Able shake her head after the win, which avenged a 64-62 loss last month to Western. No. 7 Poly (14-3, 10-1) dominated at times, thanks to the strong second period and the 21-point fourth quarter when it rallied from an eight-point deficit.
But then there was the first quarter that saw Poly score only five points and the third quarter in which the Engineers scored six. Aneah Young (11 points) sparked an 11-0 run in the fourth that gave the Engineers the lead for good.
"We have to balance it out," Peace-Able said. "We can't be so inconsistent. I would love to have all my kids clicking at the same time."
Western (14-4, 9-2) scored the game's first seven points and led until Poly's Jade Porter (12 points) got hot in the second period. She buried four 3-pointers from the corners that helped the Engineers to a 28-14 lead with just under a minute left.
The Doves didn't panic, using tough defense to force turnovers — each team had 28 of them — and scored 23 of the next 27 points. They took a 38-34 lead into the fourth quarter and stretched it to 43-35 before Poly settled down.
The Engineers slowed the frenetic pace and found much better shots on offense. Point guard Maya Horne (nine points) ran the show and helped Poly repeatedly drive to the basket and either get good shots or free throw attempts.
Young started the game-changing 11-point run — which took just 1:40 — with a three-point play, and Horne added two free throws. After that, Young made three straight baskets and scored nine as the Engineers took a 46-43 lead with just over four minutes remaining.
"They were in a zone; we just had to move the ball around and attack the gaps," Horne said. "We had to finish and [or] get to the line."
Poly also came through when it got to the line. The Engineers went just 4-for-10 on free-throw attempts through the first three quarters but made 11 of 14 in the fourth quarter.
In addition, Poly switched to man-to-man on defense, and that seemed to slow Western a little more.
"Our defense contained them enough," Young said. "But we have to come out ready to play."
Western certainly had its opportunities. The Doves missed on several shots from inside of 10 feet and made only two baskets in the final four minutes, coming up empty on several chances to tie the game.
Jasmen Walton led the Doves with a game-high 15 points.
"We missed a lot of opportunities at the end," Western coach Latasha Townsend said. "We [just] missed too many opportunities."