4A STATE TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK
Published 11:19 pm Thursday, March 5, 2009
TACOMA — Defenders have had a difficult time slowing down Sean Stickney this week. Stickney, a powerful 6-foot-4 senior post, averaged 23 points and 11.5 rebounds for Lake Stevens during the first two days of the 4A state boys basketball championships.
Those are timely increases for Stickney, who averaged 14.7 points and 10.9 rebounds in 24 games before the state tourney. On offense, he is doing most of his damage close to the hoop, using a variety of power moves and spinning layins.
“His teammates are doing a good job about being intentional with getting him the ball,” Lake Stevens coach Mark Hein said, “and that’s a big factor. When we do that and play inside-out we have a chance against anyone.”
So far in the Tacoma Dome, Stickney is 19 of 30 from the field (63.3 percent) and 8-for-10 on free throws. He had 16 points and eight rebounds Wednesday in a first-round loss to Garfield, then erupted for 30 points, 15 boards and five assists Thursday in a loser-out victory over Decatur.
Stickney, who plays with a lot of emotion, said he basically refuses to be denied when he gets the ball near the hoop. He has come a long way since seventh grade, when he was cut from his select team. He changed to a Seattle-area team and reaped major benefits.
“It was a good switch for me,” Stickney said. “I ended up playing a lot of inner-city teams and playing some tough kids. That really helped develop me as a player.”
No wrestling for Stickney
After Lake Stevens’ Stickney used his powerful frame and aggressiveness to dominate inside against Decatur, a reporter asked Stickney if Lake Stevens High wrestling coach Brent Barnes ever asked Stickney to try out for wrestling. Barnes tried, Stickney said, but Stickney prefers to knock foes around on the court, not the mat.
A different Kingma
Betsy Kingma grew up idolizing her cousin Kristi Kingma, who starred for the Jackson Timberwolves at the past three 4A girls basketball championships. Now Betsy is making a name for herself.
A 5-11 junior guard, Betsy Kingma scored a team-high 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for Newport of Bellevue Wednesday during the Knights’ first-round loss against Garfield. She followed that up with a 21-point, nine-rebound effort Thursday in a loss versus Bellarmine Prep.
Kingma’s dad, Steve Kingma, is the brother of Gregg Kingma, father of current University of Washington guard Kristi Kingma and Jackson High boys basketball guard Brett Kingma.
The Kingma family is close, Betsy Kingma said: “We do a lot of family things. We used to do more when basketball didn’t take up as much time.” Every summer the Kingmas take a trip to Chelan, “where there’s lots of boys versus girls games going. We’ve done that since we were little.”
Near-perfect half
For 16 minutes Thursday afternoon, the Mountlake Terrace boys basketball team was having its way with No. 4-ranked Eisenhower.
The Hawks’ zone defense kept Eisenhower at bay, resulting in just 15 points off 6-for-25 shooting — including 0-for-10 from the 3-point arc.
“It felt good,” Mountlake Terrace guard Ryan Sells said of the Hawks’ 29-15 halftime lead. “We came out strong.”
Unfortunately for MTHS fans, the good times didn’t last. Eisenhower attacked the Hawks’ zone and won the second half battle, 51-35, and the game, 66-64.
So what happened to the zone defense?
“I wouldn’t say we attacked it differently; we attacked it harder,” said Eisenhower’s James Lopez, who scored 22 of his game-high 24 points after halftime.
Herald Writer Scott M. Johnson contributed to this notebook.
