MARYSVILLE — The Marysville-Pilchuck girls basketball team is back in all too familiar territory.
A 49-29 win over Kamiak in the opening round of the 4A District 1 tournament Tuesday night at Marysville-Pilchuck High School has the Tomahawks one victory away from an elusive state tournament berth.
Dacia Heckendorf, a 5-foot-9 junior forward, had a game-high 14 points and 10 rebounds for Marysville-Pilchuck (16-5 overall) to set up a winner-to-state game against Wesco South No.1 seed Edmonds-Woodway — winners of 16 consecutive games.
“This is always the predicament we’re in,” Tomahawks head coach Julie Martin said. “… maybe the times are changing.”
M-P is in the midst of a 13-year state tournament drought and with the “most balanced team” Martin said she’s had in seven years of coaching the Tomahawks, the current team might be the one to snap the streak.
“A lot of them have played varsity for two years,” Martin said of the Tomhawks, the Wesco North’s No. 2 seed with just one senior. “A lot of them are stepping up and being leaders.”
Tuesday night it was Heckendorf, whose tenacity in the lane helped M-P build a lead in the second quarter.
Heckendorf’s 14 points was five above her average (nine) and just four points shy of her season high (18).
“She had an amazing game,” Martin, a senior on M-P’s last team to make the state tournament back in 1997, said of Heckendorf, who finished 6-for-9 from the free throw line. “She was all over the place.”
Becca Lentz pitched in 10 points and four steals, Andi Adams scored 11 points and Morgan Martinis added eight points for the Tomahawks.
“We had it handed to us in every way possible,” Kamiak head coach Jody Schauer said. “Marysville outplayed us in every facet of the game.”
Kamiak (9-12) was hindered by foul trouble and missed opportunities in the lane for much of the contest.
Carrie Barnes, a 6-foot junior, finished with a team-high six points and eight rebounds for the Knights while leading scorer Lexi Burns could find a groove and finished with just four points, well below her 11.3 average.
“We didn’t come to play today,” Schauer said. “I think we played scared and rushed some things.”
The Tomahawks capitalized on Kamiak’s scoring woes and created a gap in the second quarter after the Knights trailed by three points in the first.
Adams, a 5-foot-6 junior, scored six points in 36 seconds and Heckendorf added a field goal during an 8-0 run that gave Marysville-Pilchuck an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter.
The Tomahawks face perhaps the Western Conference’s strongest team in Edmonds-Woodway (20-1 overall) on Friday at 8 p.m.
The Warriors, ranked fourth in 4A by the Associated Press, are rolling following a mid-December loss to Meadowdale.
“They’re a tough team,” Martin said. “They definitely have us beat in the height area. … It’ll be interesting with our speed to see how we match up.”
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Kamiak9974—29
Marysville-Pilchuck12171010—49
Kamiak — Burns 4, Larson 3, Barnes 6, Williams 2, Keller 2, Mahjoubian 2, Johnson 2, Blackwell 3, Plourd 0, Stephens 4, Gilbert 1. Marysville-Pilchuck — Oden 2, Lentz 10, Martinis 8, Adams 11, Peterson 0, Watson 2, Heckendorf 14, Enberg 2, Rossnagle 0. 3-pointers — Larson 1, Lentz 2, Martinis 1, Adams 2. Records — Kamiak 9-12 overall. Marysville-Pilchuck 16-5.
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