Rough ride for Snohomish girls

Published 9:00 pm Friday, March 12, 2004

TACOMA — Oh, so close.

A valiant comeback attempt by the Snohomish girls basketball team fell just short in a 58-54 Class 4A state playoff semifinal loss to Roosevelt Friday night at the Tacoma Dome.

The Panthers trailed by as many as 14 points in the fourth quarter, but twice cut the game’s margin to four points in the last two minutes.

"I was never comfortable," said Roosevelt coach Bill Resler, whose 24-3 team will play Garfield in tonight’s all-Seattle state championship game. "Not until the buzzer sounded."

The Roughriders were led by Breianna Gaines (18 points, seven rebounds) and fifth-year senior Darnellia Russell. Russell, who missed last season after giving birth on Dec. 1, 2002, scored 17 points and constantly hurt the Panthers with drives to the basket.

Snohomish coach Ken Roberts, who referred to Russell as a "freshman in college," said Roosevelt’s seniors were the difference. Snohomish has only one senior and starts three juniors and sophomore.

"Seniors step up and make big plays," said Roberts, whose team will play Prairie for third place at 3:30 p.m. today.

Junior guard Kristin Moore and freshman Amanda Best combined for 13 straight Snohomish points, cutting Roosevelt’s lead to 51-43 after Best’s 3 with 4:46 remaining in the game. Best finished the game with a team-high 16 and Moore added 15.

The Roughriders pushed the lead back up to 10, but Best, Britni Rathke and Jordan Wilde each scored during a 6-0 burst to cut Roosevelt’s lead to 55-51 with 1:49 remaining.

Gaines drilled a 3, but Best answered from beyond NBA range for the final 58-54 score with 1:05 to go.

"I knew we had the game," Gaines said. "Our defense is like no other team’s."

The Roughriders used their "touches" drill to play keep-away for much of the final minute. They burned 20 second before turning the ball over with 45 seconds to go. Snohomish (23-3) missed two long 3-point shots before Roosevelt grabbed a rebound and played keep-away for the final 20 seconds.

Roberts was pleased to qualify for the semifinals, but believes his team did not play its best in any of the three games.

"We’ve been down here for 12 quarters now, and we’ve played scared for 11," said Roberts, whose team lost 58-41 to Prairie during the regular season, two days after knocking off eventual Class 3A championship Meadowdale. "The effort at the end — coming back hard was nice — but you’ve got to do what you’re told at the end of the game."

The early stages of the game featured a series of scoring runs by both teams.

Roosevelt used a 7-0 run to take an early 10-4 lead, but the Panthers answered with a 7-0 outburst of their own for an 11-10 edge with 1:10 remaining in the first quarter

The Roughriders rattled off 17 of the game’s next 21 points to take a 27-15 advantage with 4:14 to go in the half. Snohomish played Roosevelt even for the rest of the half and went into halftime trailing 34-22.

The Roughriders took and made eight more field goals in the first half than Snohomish. The Panthers shot 35 percent (eight of 23) and turned the ball over nine times in the half. Gaines and Russell combined to score 20 of Roosevelt’s 34 first-half points.

Daesha Henderson scored five of Snohomish’s seven points to begin the second half while trimming Roosevelt’s lead to nine points. The Roughriders bumped the lead back up to 44-30 after Ariel Evans’ driving lay-in with two minutes remaining in the third.

The Panthers, who struggled to make free throws for much of their first two state playoff victories, made only three of their first seven in the second half and finished the game nine of 16.