EvCC women battle top-seed Lower Columbia, fall in NWAC tourney

Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 11, 2017

EVERETT — The Everett Community College women’s basketball team tied for second place in the Northwest Athletic Conference’s North Region with two other squads, but took a No. 4 seed into the NWAC tournament due to tiebreakers. That meant the Trojans had to face a region champion in their first-round game Saturday at Everett Community College.

Everett certainly didn’t play like a No. 4 seed against top-seeded Lower Columbia. The Trojans, missing two starters due to injury, gave the Red Devils all they could handle. Down by double digits, Everett got back into the game with a stirring fourth-quarter rally.

But the Trojans’ gritty effort wasn’t enough to extend their season. Lower Columbia dominated the last four minutes of the game to pull away for a 66-56 win.

Everett’s season ended with a 14-13 record.

“We thought (Lower Columbia) was going to underestimate us. We thought the whole gym was going to underestimate us,” said Trojans wing Alexis Biggerstaff. “Nobody else believed in us, but we believed in ourselves, and we came out fighting.”

The Red Devils finished the second quarter on a 17-5 run to take a 31-25 halftime lead and outscored Everett 16-9 in the third quarter, pushing their advantage to 47-34.

But the Trojans didn’t quit. They opened the fourth quarter with a 14-2 run to cut Lower Columbia’s lead to 49-48 with 5 minutes, 34 seconds to go in the game.

“(Our rally) was based on our mental toughness and our heart,” said Biggerstaff, who posted 11 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals. “Heart is a big thing for our team. We’ve always been able to come back from (big deficits) like that. A lot of it has to do with our mental preparation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a one-seed or a four-seed; anything can happen.”

The Red Devils responded, however, scoring 12 of the game’s next 13 points to take a 61-49 lead with 1:55 remaining.

“Lower Columbia is a very athletic team, and we held them to a low score,” said Everett coach Chet Hovde. “I thought we played harder than they did. We wanted it bad. We gave them a good run for their money. After we beat Bellevue and Peninsula without (injured starters Lily Hilderbrand and Tyra Lopez), I knew we could still play at a high level, and we showed that tonight.”

Shorecrest alum Uju Chibuogwu led the Trojans with 15 points and nine rebounds. Tywanna Abbott had 13 points for the Red Devils, who forced 30 turnovers.

“We played hard, and they played hard,” said Lower Columbia coach Chad Meadors. “There were some mistakes on both sides. You have to give credit to Everett for putting a lot of pressure on us with its full-court man-to-man defense. Our defense is solid, though — we did some different things to keep them off-balance.”

Everett lost eight of its first 10 games this season, but rebounded to win nine of its last 11 contests entering the tournament.

“We overachieved,” Hovde said. “This was a young team, with a lot of freshmen. If we can get a few more players of their caliber for next year, we could be one of the teams to beat.”

“We wanted to be the team that improved the most,” Biggerstaff said. “We achieved that goal. We went through some adversity — losing players, getting players back, losing more players. We did a good job of staying together no matter who was playing. We improved so much, and one of the reasons we improved was because we all had one common goal, and we had heart. We didn’t give up no matter what.”