Musings from last night's 4A girls districts
Saturday, February 11, 2012 | 11:50 am
I picked Lake Stevens to win this tournament before it began, but after Friday night I would like to put an exclamation point after the name on each level of the bracket. I know Snohomish is no world beater, but Lake played so strong in the first half. Their athleticism just jumps out at you and as one person on the live blog said was "breathtaking."
If they play 80 percent that well against Jackson next week (who the Vikings just beat Feb. 4), they still win. The one weakness I see in Lake is what if one (or both) of the Pahukoas get in foul trouble and Goddard gets shut down. It's a big if, but I'm not sure who can play those crunch time minutes for them. Maybe they are too good to let that happen?
As for Jackson, a tough gritty win (which, ahem, yes David, I did pick correctly and you did not). My prediction was that Stanwood would not quite understand what it would be like to play in such a meaningful game. Coach Dennis Kloke admitted as much after the game, which you can find in my game story. I believe the seven seniors have never been in a winner to state contest (not 100% sure on this) and their big-game inexperience showed at times. That said, I see no reason why Stanwood can't win two games in the loser's bracket and play the team from Kingco for a trip to state. I think the Spartans will bounce back strong. In the fourth quarter they played like a state tournament team, they just had too far to come back.
Here is the transcript of my interviews (that didn't make the game story) after the Jackson and Stanwood game.
Kristin Stoffel, Jackson Senior Forward
(on how this compares to freshman year when Jackson made state) "I think having it be my senior year, It means a lot to be going back there (to state). It's just a great accomplishment for the team."
"It's a huge game with a lot on the line, so we all had a little bit of nerves, but we knew we had to come out strong with as much energy was we could and that's what we did to get the win."
(On her big scoring day) "I think when the options were there and I had good looks it was a good time for me to take open shots and they were falling.
(on Jackson's big rebound edge) "All week we put a huge emphasis on blocking out because their posts are really strong we knew we had to keep them off the boards."
Dennis Kloke, Stanwood coach
"We are still in the tournament. We still can achieve getting to state. It's just going to be hard now."
"It may be good for us because we lost a lot of practice time with the snow."
(on coming up short at the end)"That's basketball. We started out very very poorly. WE took ourselves out of the offense and made bad decisions."
"I told the girls I'm really proud of them that they battled back."
"They followed directions much better in the second half than they did in the first half to be really frank. We were kinda going off on our own (early on)."
Kelli Kingma, Jackson guard
"That was awesome. We've been wanting to do this since last year and this year we knew if we played as good as we could we'd get the win."
"My teammates, oh my gosh, they could not have stepped up any bigger that was just crazy. So exciting."
(on coming out strong) "We were really fired up and we knew that Stanwood is obviously an amazing team so we wanted to get out there and prove it early."
(was she nervous at the end) "I knew my teammates would step up. We knew we had it."
Jeannie Boyer, Jackson coach
"I'm so happy. I'm so proud of my team. I have the nicest group of kids that just don't quit."
"Stanwood is a great team and we knew from the get go that we were goin got have one heck of a ballgame and we knew it would be a battle."
(on Stoffel's big game) "Kris has been that her entire career. This is so nice so that people can se the type of player she is. She's a great leader. She's a great basketball player she's an even better person. It's a great moment for her to have as a senior."
(on first trip to state since the seniors were freshman) "It's very exciting with this group of seniors to be able to honor them by getting them back to the state tournament."
"It's an amazing accomplishment for us because this conference is fantastic. It's probably one of the top in the state."
If they play 80 percent that well against Jackson next week (who the Vikings just beat Feb. 4), they still win. The one weakness I see in Lake is what if one (or both) of the Pahukoas get in foul trouble and Goddard gets shut down. It's a big if, but I'm not sure who can play those crunch time minutes for them. Maybe they are too good to let that happen?
As for Jackson, a tough gritty win (which, ahem, yes David, I did pick correctly and you did not). My prediction was that Stanwood would not quite understand what it would be like to play in such a meaningful game. Coach Dennis Kloke admitted as much after the game, which you can find in my game story. I believe the seven seniors have never been in a winner to state contest (not 100% sure on this) and their big-game inexperience showed at times. That said, I see no reason why Stanwood can't win two games in the loser's bracket and play the team from Kingco for a trip to state. I think the Spartans will bounce back strong. In the fourth quarter they played like a state tournament team, they just had too far to come back.
Here is the transcript of my interviews (that didn't make the game story) after the Jackson and Stanwood game.
Kristin Stoffel, Jackson Senior Forward
(on how this compares to freshman year when Jackson made state) "I think having it be my senior year, It means a lot to be going back there (to state). It's just a great accomplishment for the team."
"It's a huge game with a lot on the line, so we all had a little bit of nerves, but we knew we had to come out strong with as much energy was we could and that's what we did to get the win."
(On her big scoring day) "I think when the options were there and I had good looks it was a good time for me to take open shots and they were falling.
(on Jackson's big rebound edge) "All week we put a huge emphasis on blocking out because their posts are really strong we knew we had to keep them off the boards."
Dennis Kloke, Stanwood coach
"We are still in the tournament. We still can achieve getting to state. It's just going to be hard now."
"It may be good for us because we lost a lot of practice time with the snow."
(on coming up short at the end)"That's basketball. We started out very very poorly. WE took ourselves out of the offense and made bad decisions."
"I told the girls I'm really proud of them that they battled back."
"They followed directions much better in the second half than they did in the first half to be really frank. We were kinda going off on our own (early on)."
Kelli Kingma, Jackson guard
"That was awesome. We've been wanting to do this since last year and this year we knew if we played as good as we could we'd get the win."
"My teammates, oh my gosh, they could not have stepped up any bigger that was just crazy. So exciting."
(on coming out strong) "We were really fired up and we knew that Stanwood is obviously an amazing team so we wanted to get out there and prove it early."
(was she nervous at the end) "I knew my teammates would step up. We knew we had it."
Jeannie Boyer, Jackson coach
"I'm so happy. I'm so proud of my team. I have the nicest group of kids that just don't quit."
"Stanwood is a great team and we knew from the get go that we were goin got have one heck of a ballgame and we knew it would be a battle."
(on Stoffel's big game) "Kris has been that her entire career. This is so nice so that people can se the type of player she is. She's a great leader. She's a great basketball player she's an even better person. It's a great moment for her to have as a senior."
(on first trip to state since the seniors were freshman) "It's very exciting with this group of seniors to be able to honor them by getting them back to the state tournament."
"It's an amazing accomplishment for us because this conference is fantastic. It's probably one of the top in the state."
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