Bad start buries Viking girls
Published 11:35 pm Thursday, March 4, 2010
TACOMA — Unfortunately for the Lake Stevens Vikings, there are no do-overs in the state tournament.
They could have used one.
A slow start led to a disappointing finish for the Vikings, who lost to Issaquah 67-47 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A girls state basketball tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
The loss dropped Lake Stevens (19-6) into the consolation bracket. The Vikings play Chiawana at 2 p.m. today in a loser-out game. Issaquah (23-4) moves on to a semifinal matchup with Auburn Riverside.
“Oh sure,” Lake Stevens coach Randall Edens said when asked if he would like to press the restart button on a first quarter that saw his team fall behind by 14 points. “In the middle (of the game) we were fine. It was 32-32 in terms of points. We were even.”
The Vikings trailed 22-8 at the end of the first period. The deficit was partly their own making and partly the result of Issaquah’s red-hot shooting.
Lake Stevens committed 11 of its 19 turnovers in the first eight minutes, giving the Eagles several extra looks at the basket. “We had to be efficient and in control and we weren’t doing that,” Edens said.
And it didn’t help that Eagles couldn’t seem to miss from the field. They shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half (16-for-31) and 43 percent from 3-point range (6-for-14).
Particularly deadly from outside was junior guard Mackenzie Schiltz, who had four of her six 3-pointers in the first half, two in each quarter. She finished 6-for-8 from behind the arc and scored a game-high 20 points, nine above her season average.
“Yesterday wasn’t the best shooting day for me,” said Schiltz, who hit just one of 10 shots in a first-round win over Lewis-Clark. “So I kind of had in my head to go out there and make up for yesterday.”
When Schiltz wasn’t hitting from outside, point guard Dominique Mendezona was able to carve up the Vikings’ defense with her dribble penetration. Mendezona scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half to blunt any hopes of a Lake Stevens comeback.
“Their dribble drive was really tough to contain,” Edens said. “We just don’t have the right personnel for the athletic (offensive) players, to keep them in front. We tried to mix and match a little bit and hoped they would miss shots.”
They didn’t.
Every time the Vikings mounted a run, Schiltz would nail a three or Mendezona would knife through the defense for a runner in the lane. For the game, Issaquah shot 46 percent from the floor and 47 percent from 3-point range.
After the difficult first quarter, Lake Stevens turned the ball over just eight times the rest of the game. At one point in the second quarter, the Vikings scored on six consecutive possessions, but the hole they dug was so deep they still trailed by eight points.
“Our group hung in there and was persistent,” Edens said, “but we just couldn’t close the gap.”
Stephanie Schumacher led the Vikings with nine points. Sam Peterson, Kayla Bostwick and Brooke Pahukoa each scored eight.
One bright spot for the Vikings was the return of junior forward Meghan Warbis. Warbis sprained her ankle in Saturday’s district championship game and sat out the state opener. She had five points and three rebounds in 10 minutes before fouling out.
“All things considered, she played pretty well,” Edens said.
At Tacoma Dome
Lake Stevens81814747
Issaquah2217151367
Lake Stevens Goodard 0, Peterson 8, Bostwick 8, Warbis 5, Cha. Burke 0, Cor. Burke 0, Schumacher 9, Molstre 5, Bri. Pahukoa 0, Bro. Pahukoa 8, Wilson 4. Issaquah Schiltz 20, Pflaumer 12, Brakken 0, Gibson 0, Holmes 6, Miller 9, D. Mendezona 14, Young 0, Brady 6, Rex 0, A. Mendezona 0. 3-point FGs Peterson 2, Bostwick 1, Schumacher 1, Schiltz 6, Miller 1, Brady 1. Records Lake Stevens 19-6, Issaquah 23-4.
