Love sisters boost Cascade

Published 11:07 pm Saturday, February 14, 2009

EVERETT — Love conquers all — at least two sisters named Love conquered Mariner Saturday.

Sisters Danielle and Devan Love combined to score 28 of Cascade’s 54 points, leading the Bruins to a 54-43 win over the Mariner Maruaders in a 4A District 1 play-in game at Mariner High School.

The win earned the Bruins (10-11 overall) their first 4A District 1 berth since 2003 when they lost to Monroe in a winner-to-state, third-place game.

The Bruins will face Western Conference North No. 1 seed Snohomish Tuesday at Snohomish in the first round.

“We’re pumped. We’re going to go there and give it our all that’s for sure,” Danielle Love said.

Second-year Cascade head coach Carlos Humphrey said he saw the postseason coming when the Bruins battled through a tough early season schedule.

“We saw it early in the season. We had to go through the upper-tier teams early so it toughened us up,” Humphrey said.

Danielle Love, a 6-foot, 1-inch do-it-all guard/forward/center, scored a team-high 16 points. The junior played the first three quarters as the primary ball-handler and finished with five steals.

The Bruins posted her up in the fourth quarter and Love tallied eight points in the period.

She scored four of her eight points on free throws. She also blocked a Mariner shot by Ho’Okena Varde in the final minute that may have cut the Bruins lead to five.

Devan Love scored 12 points and she and teammate Taylor Gordon combined to hit five of the Bruins’ six 3-pointers in the game.

Gordon hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a key 10-0 run that ended the second quarter and returned the lead back to Cascade. A lead it wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the game.

“We’re clicking so well and we’re peaking at the right time, that’s exactly what we want to be doing,” Danielle Love said.

Varde caught fire in the final quarter, scoring eight of her 15 points and helping cut the Bruins lead to five points with a minute to play.

Senior post Brittany Ruscha led the Marauders with 16 points.

Mariner (6-15) was trying to make its first trip to the postseason in more than a decade. Despite the loss, Mariner put together its best season since 2003 when it finished 7-13.

The Marauders won five Western Conference South Division games this year, an amount that equaled their combined total of the past five seasons.

At Mariner H.S.

Cascade14121315—54

Mariner1171114—43

Cascade—Nelson 5, Gross 9, Da. Love 16, De. Love 12, Gordon 9, Bergman 0, Joyce 3, Dorcas 0. Mariner—Anderson 2, Varde 15, Todhunter 3, Branham 7, Wilson 0, Ruscha 16. 3-pointers—De. Love 2, Joyce 1, Gordon 3, Varde 1, Todhunter 1. Records—Cascade 10-11 overall. Mariner 6-15.