Everett girls prevail in overtime

Published 11:02 pm Friday, December 5, 2014

EVERETT — In a game that was close for four quarters and into the early minutes of overtime, Everett High School’s girls basketball team finally pulled away thanks to seven consecutive points from guard Megan Dedrick in barely more than a minute of OT.

The result was a 46-39 OT victory for the Seagulls on Friday night in BruGull Fest, the annual rival event bewtween the two schools’ boys and girls basketball teams. Friday’s victory was the Everett’s girls first varsity win in five tries in the school’s remodeled gymnasium. The Seagulls lost three games in the new gym late last season and their first game there this season.

Dedrick, who had just two points in regulation, dropped in a 3-pointer from the left baseline with 1:30 to play in overtime, lifting Everett to a 40-39 lead. She followed moments later with a layin from right of the hoop, and then capped the scoring string with a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play.

Teammate Sydney Taggart sank two free throws in the closing seconds for the final score.

“It was a fun game,” Everett coach John Low said. “The kids did a good job. We came out and played with intensity. We still made some mistakes because we’re really young, but I was really proud because at the end they kept their composure and they did what they needed to do to get the win.”

Dedrick, meanwhile, showed she “has no fear of taking the big shot,” he added. “She’s one of those kids who’s just a competitor across the board and she doesn’t mind having the ball in her hands when it needs to be at the end of the game.”

In a game with six lead changes and nine ties, the Seagulls used a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take a 23-21 halftime lead. Everett led for much of the second half, but two free throws by Cascade’s Kennedi Smith with 21 seconds to play in regulation sent the game to overtime.

In OT, Smith scored with a layin to give the Bruins a two-point margin. Everett went scoreless for the first 21/2 minutes, but the Seagulls ended up scoring the game’s final nine points.

Everett, which had three starters taller than anyone on the Bruins’ roster, used that height advantage well in the first half. Seagulls post Katy Hedington, a 6-foot-2 senior, had 11 of her game-high 14 points before halftime, but in the second half Cascade used two players to deny Hedington the ball. The strategy worked as the Seagulls missed a bunch of perimeter shots, including several 3-pointers.

“We had four or five 3s the other night (in a season-opening loss to Kamiak) and it seemed like tonight we had better looks, but they weren’t going in the hoop,” Low said. “That happens sometimes, but (Dedrick) hit a big one at the end when we needed one.”

The loss drops the Bruins to 0-2 this season, but “I like the way we competed,” Cascade coach Dave Roberts said. “I thought we played hard throughout the entire game, so the effort was great.

“It’s just a matter of getting better each and every night, and I think we got better. We would like to have won, but I have no doubt that we got better,” he said.

The Bruins made their first 14 free throws and finished the game 17-for-21.

At Everett H.S.

Cascade1385112—39

Everett1112779—46

Cascade—Vy Nguyen 5, Anneka Hilde 2, Brooke Alcayaga 6, Brianna Punkiewicz 2, Kennedi Smith 13, Whitney Harris 2, Morgan Joyce 9. Everett—Megan Dedrick 9, Caroline Overstreet 1, Sydney Taggart 12, Kate Pohland 7, Alexis Rutter 3, Katy Hedington 14. 3-point goals—Vy Nguyen 1, Kennedi Smith 1, Morgan Joyce 2, Megan Dedrick 1, Kate Pohland 1. Records—Cascade 0-2 overall; Everett 1-1.