Snohomish girls rout Lake Stevens 56-26 to win district title

Published 9:40 pm Thursday, February 18, 2016

EVERETT — The Lake Stevens offense came into the district championship averaging a league-best 56.3 points per game this season.

But the Snohomish defense, the stingiest in Wesco 4A, held the Vikings to just half of that Thursday night.

In a battle of the league’s best offense against the best defense, Snohomish clamped down on Lake Stevens, holding the Vikings scoreless in the second quarter and allowing just five first-half points. Lake Stevens had more success offensively in the second half but it was too late, as the Panthers defeated the Vikings 56-26 to clinch their second consecutive 4A District 1 title at Everett Community College.

Snohomish’s victory clinches a spot in next weekend’s regional round of the state tournament.

“We held them to five in the first half. We went over some things, defensively, that we had to get done and I thought the kids did a good job of executing that,” Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts said. “… We’re really excited about the win. We’ll have a little fun tonight and then we’ll make sure we’re ready to play next Friday or Saturday.”

Lake Stevens shot 1 of 15 in the first half from the field and went a period of 12 minutes from the first to the third quarter without a score.

Ten first-half turnovers didn’t help the Vikings, who faced a 25-5 deficit at halftime.

“Honestly, we just kind of played on our heels a little bit,” Lake Stevens head coach Randall Edens said. “There was a stretch there where it got to 8-2 or 10-2 and then we get it to 10-5 and it’s like, ‘Hey, we’re in good shape.’ Once you start missing shots, you start to rush and you take shots that aren’t conventional for us and it tends to snowball.

“We felt really good about the defensive side, we just couldn’t score.”

Snohomish’s defense is allowing a league-best 38 points per game. The Panthers held off Lake Stevens in their prior two meetings, winning 50-48 on Feb. 5 and 46-38 on Jan. 13.

“You play a team three times and you figure out what the other team’s weaknesses are. You start to see some things,” Roberts said. “They’re long. (Kylee) Griffen is long and gets to a lot of things. They have some good players. It’ll be nice to play somebody else that isn’t in our league.”

Griffen, the Vikings’ star sophomore, was limited to three points. The 6-foot-1 guard was contested every time she touched the ball.

“They were uber-physical,” Edens said. “They congested the lane a lot with a lot of bodies. We had opportunities for some other players to score and we didn’t convert and that’s huge.”

The victory was the 19th consecutive win for Snohomish (19-3), which started the season 0-3. The Panthers got a boost with the return of freshman Kyra Beckman and Katie Brandvold from injuries.

“There’s been one game in our last 10 when we’ve had all eight of our top eight kids,” Roberts said. “We’ve been playing shorthanded. Kyra, the freshman, was out after breaking her wrist. We had Katie Brandvold (out) with some ankle stuff. We just didn’t have a full squad the second half of the year but we were able to do enough to win. I just felt like when we got all eight we’d be able to extend leads and it felt like we were able to do that tonight.”

Senior Madeline Smith led the Panthers with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Smith had six of her 16 in the second quarter when Snohomish started to pull away.

“She made some big buckets when we needed them,” Roberts said. “I thought early we didn’t go to her enough. The first few plays we did but then we kind of got away from her a little bit.”

Smith, a 6-foot-1 senior post who has committed to Montana State, posed a matchup problem for the Vikings.

“Her consistent effort of just wanting to get a touch on the ball I think has really set her apart,” Edens said. “When they need a basket, she’s always still going. There isn’t a stop button.”

Brandvold scored 12 points and Shaylee Harwood and Beckman added six points apiece for the Panthers, who will be the district’s No. 1 seed and host for a regional game next weekend. Snohomish will learn its opponent after a draw at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association office in Renton on Sunday.

“Hopefully, we get a good draw. We are ready to play next weekend,” Roberts said. “We’re focused on celebrating this, but we have a lot bigger goals this year.”

Lake Stevens (15-9) will face Kamiak (14-10) in a winner-to-regionals game at noon Saturday at Everett Community College for the district’s second and final berth.

“They’re a good team. Kamiak’s a good team,” Roberts said. “Either one of those teams could win on Saturday and either one’s a good representative for Wesco at the next level. I wouldn’t want to be a No. 1 that has to play them.”

At Everett Community College

Lake Stevens 5 0 11 10 —26

Snohomish 11 14 9 22 —56

Lake Stevens—Laycie Taylor 3, Emma Smith 4, Kristen Glick 0, Riley O’Toole 0, Anna Dominick 0, Ashley Richardson 0, Marissa Walton 5, Katie Saylor 6, Kylee Griffen 3, Hailey Wilson 5. Snohomish—Katie Brandvold 12, Morgan Marshall 3, Maya DuChesne 5, Emily Preach 0, Samantha Beeman 2, Shaylee Harwood 1, Madison Pollock 6, Madeline Smith 16, Cassidy McGee 0, Kyra Beckman 6, Ellie Flitsch 3. Records—Lake Stevens 15-9 overall. Snohomish 19-3.