M-P girls basketball team earns spot in playoffs

Published 11:48 pm Friday, February 6, 2009

MONROE — The Marysville-Pilchuck Tomahawks girls basketball team extended its season at least two more days by earning a postseason tournament berth on Friday night.

The Tomahawks clinched their second straight 4A District 1 tournament berth with a 57-45 Western Conference North Division win over the Monroe Bearcats in a game played at Monroe High School.

More impressive than clinching was how the Tomahawks did it. They won without starting guard Andi Adams and with 6-foot, 2-inch star post player Britt Harris playing only sparingly.

Adams and Harris combined to score 33 points in the prior matchup between these two teams, a 47-44 Tomahawks’ win on Jan. 8.

But Adams tore her ACL late in M-P’s Jan. 16 win over Cascade and will miss the rest of the season. Harris battled foul trouble Friday, sitting for all but six minutes in the first three quarters before playing the fourth quarter with the game’s outcome no longer in doubt.

“Our girls worked really well together. We talk about mental toughness and team and I think that they totally displayed that (Friday),” Marysville-Pilchuck head coach Julie Martin said.

Six-foot senior post Brittany Pierce made up for the loss of Harris by scoring 14 points and guard Morgan Martinis scored a game-high 19 points, 14 in the second half and 15 on five 3-pointers.

“Everyone stepped up tonight, it was great to see it from our bench tonight,” Martin said.

Marysville-Pilchuck shot 7-for-16 from behind the 3-point arc, a far cry from its 2-for-26 performance a week ago against Arlington.

“We’ve been working a lot on our shot since that game,” Martin said.

With the win, Marysville-Pilchuck (10-5 in league, 13-6 overall) can do no worse than the No. 4 seed out of the Wesco North.

“We’re kind of just focusing on game by game right now. We can still get to that second spot. We’re just trying to get there,” Martin said.

With the loss Monroe (7-7, 10-8) remained in the No. 5 position a game ahead of Lake Stevens.

Unlike past years, the North Division’s No. 5 seed still has a chance at a postseason berth by playing in a play-in game against the South’s No. 4 seed.

Emily Drivstuen led Monroe with 18 points, 12 in the final quarter, and Marlayna Drawsky added 10.

Marysville-Pilchuck controlled most of Friday night’s game.

Monroe was able to cut M-P’s lead to three with 2:30 remaining in the second quarter, but the Tomahawks ended that quickly by scoring the six unanswered points and taking a nine-point lead in the half.

The Bearcats were done in by 18 mostly unforced turnovers in the second and third quarters.

At Monroe H.S.

M-P17101515—57

Monroe108819—45

Marysville-Pilchuck — Cull 2, Martinis 19, K. Enberg 8, Oden 0, Harris 3, E. Enberg 4, Heckendorf 3, Pierce 14, Lentz 4. Monroe — Clark 5, Drawsky 10, Drivstuen 18, Murphy 0, Ohlsen 6, Ojalehto 0, Robertson 0, Smith 6, Snell 0.

3-pointers — K. Enberg 2, Martinis 5, Drivstuen 2. Records — Marysville-Pilchuck 10-5 in league, 13-6 overall. Monroe 7-7, 10-8.