Kamiak girls battle, fall short to Auburn Riverside 51-41

Published 1:30 am Friday, February 24, 2017

PUYALLUP — The never-say-die Kamiak girls basketball team battled back with another inspired comeback.

But as the senior-laden Knights went cold in the fourth quarter, their dream of playing in the Tacoma Dome slipped away.

No. 13 seed Kamiak fell one win short of the Hardwood Classic for the second consecutive year, suffering a season-ending 51-41 loss to No. 12 seed Auburn Riverside in a Class 4A state regional Friday night at Rogers High School.

“That’s a tough way to go out,” Kamiak coach Brian Norman said. “We have seven seniors and they’ve kind of started a winning tradition at Kamiak. The last four years, these seven girls have worked hard and put a lot of time in — a lot of blood, sweat and tears. And to finish like this — we were right there.”

The Knights (17-9) battled back from a pair of 10-point first-half deficits to take a third-quarter lead. But Kamiak managed just three points in the fourth, and Riverside pulled away to hand the Knights another dream-crushing regional loss.

“We kind of got a little complacent with our offense,” Norman said. “We needed to keep moving — not only the ball — but our bodies. When we’re not doing well, sometimes we start standing around watching a little bit. And we might have done that a little too much tonight, especially late.”

It was deja vu for Kamiak, which for the second straight year advanced to regionals by winning three consecutive district loser-out games. The Knights even played in the same venue Friday as last year’s regional loss to Kentlake.

Unlike last season, however, this defeat ended the careers of a Kamiak senior class that snapped a seven-year state drought with back-to-back regional appearances.

“I just love all of them so much,” Kamiak senior Kate Huguenin said of her teammates. “It’s just so hard realizing this is the last time I’m ever going to play with a lot of them. It’s sad.”

Riverside (21-6) jumped out to an early 10-0 lead while holding the Knights without a field goal for more than four minutes to begin the game. But Kamiak senior Sarah Payne scored 11 points — including three 3-pointers — over the next five minutes as the Knights chipped into the deficit.

Auburn Riverside pushed its lead back to 10 points midway through the second quarter, but Huguenin scored six points during an 8-0 run that cut the margin to 22-20 late in the half.

“They always bounce back, they always stick with it and they never give up,” Norman said. “They have that kind of heart. They love each other, they work hard for each other and they just don’t give in. I’m proud of them for that.”

Huguenin hit a corner 3-pointer early in the third quarter to tie the game at 25 apiece. Then after Riverside retook the lead, senior Jamie Beirne scored seven straight points to put the Knights in front, 32-30, for the first time all night.

Kamiak sophomore Hunter Beirne added a pair of third-quarter 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater from just inside halfcourt that tied it at 38 heading into the final period.

But Riverside’s defense, which entered the night allowing just 35.2 points per game, shut down Kamiak in the fourth quarter. Riverside sophomore Autumn Lee drained a corner 3-pointer to extend her team’s lead to 48-41 with less than three minutes left to play, and the Ravens added free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.

“They were hitting things and we weren’t,” Huguenin said of her team’s fourth-quarter struggles. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the hole.”

Riverside 6-foot-3 center Faith Turner scored a game-high 23 points and senior point guard McKenzi Williams added 16 for the Ravens, who sported a major size advantage over a Kamiak team whose tallest starter stands 5-foot-9. Huguenin led the Knights with 14 points and Payne scored all 11 of her points in the first half.

“We would’ve loved to have gotten to the Dome, but they just work hard,” Norman said of his senior class. “They’re great teammates with each other, they encourage each other, they pull for each other, they have each other’s backs.

“They’ll all be successful in whatever they do,” he added, “because they’re just great kids.”