Snohomish girls basketball falls short in 3A state semis

Published 1:35 am Saturday, March 7, 2026

TACOMA — There are no moral victories when you fall one game short of reaching the state title game. Snohomish girls basketball coach Ken Roberts made that clear.

But even after the No. 2 seed Panthers’ (20-7) 47-43 loss to No. 6 seed Eastside Catholic (20-7) in the 3A State semifinals at the Tacoma Dome on Friday, the longtime Snohomish coach felt nothing but pride towards his team’s efforts.

“The goal wasn’t to be within one possession (until the end). It was to win,” Roberts said. “(…) Our kids just executed really well, and the ball didn’t go in as much from some kids as it normally does. It happens. It’s part of basketball. But I think in anything in life, you want to have the goal to do it the best you can. And we did the parts we can control.

“We can’t control the ball going in all the time, but we shot the right shots, and we had some kids step up.”

They needed to. Facing a board-crashing Crusaders side that put double- and triple-teams on senior Sienna Capelli one night after she almost single-handedly pushed the Panthers past Stanwood in the quarterfinals, the Snohomish supporting cast answered the call.

Capelli led with 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, but fellow senior Kendall Hammer posted 10 points and four steals while junior Lola Rotondo chipped in seven points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Junior Lizzie Allyn and sophomore Grace Gunnerson each made a crucial shot when they needed to, and nearly every healthy body on the bench saw the court during crunch time, even if only for a few seconds in some cases.

“We wouldn’t be the team we are without every single person on our team,” Hammer said. “(On) the bench and on the floor, we get all our energy from one another.”

It took a little time to find that energy after the opening tip. Eastside Catholic jumped out to a 6-0 lead, prompting Roberts to call a timeout just 1:14 into the game. It gave Snohomish the brief pause they needed to overcome their nerves before things unraveled.

It had the desired effect, as the Panthers turned around to tie it 6-6 with a jumper from Rotondo followed by a pair of driving layups from Capelli.

“I feel like we were kind of super jitter-ish, and just needed to just calm down and play our game,” Capelli said.

Eastside Catholic’s 6-foot-4 sophomore Amy Nduka (23 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) proved to be as tough to stop under the basket as one would expect. She scored the next six points for the Crusaders and finished the quarter with 10 points, but Snohomish still came up with a handful of defensive stops to keep close. Capelli closed the first by sinking a putback jumper from the paint to cut it to 12-11.

Hammer entered foul trouble early in the second, which took away a key shooting threat for the Panthers. Meanwhile, Nduka continued to dominate down low while her teammates capitalized on offensive rebounds to create second-chance points. Sophomore Sophie Lugolobi hit a corner 3 to give Eastside Catholic a 17-15 lead with about 4:35 before halftime, and senior Tatum Carter pushed it to 19-15 on a putback jumper off the glass.

Nduka extended the lead to five by converting an ‘And-1’ with 3:30 left in the half, and she knocked down another free throw 90 seconds later to stretch it to 23-17, but Capelli grabbed a steal and connected with Hammer in transition to cut it to 23-19 heading into the break.

Through one half, the Crusaders out-rebounded Snohomish 10-4 on the offensive glass, which led to a 13-3 disparity in second-chance points.

“They’re all able to shoot,” Capelli said. “So with us, it was kind of hard for us to just like be able to play middle and help our bigs guard (Nduka), but also guard the outside.”

Needing an adjustment, Roberts switched the defense from a 2-3 zone to a triangle-and-2. He inserted several reserves who had a better understanding of how to run the latter, which set the tone for when the starters returned.

With the triangle keeping Nduka off the boards, she only scored three points in the third quarter. Across the entire second half, each side had six offensive rebounds, and Eastside Catholic only had a 5-4 edge in second-chance points.

“Just making sure we had somebody between (Nduka) and the basket all the time,” Roberts said. “Because in a 2-3, you get lost sometimes. You know, 2-3 wasn’t bad, but it was the second-chance points, and the triangle didn’t give ‘em the second-chance points.”

With the defense doing a better job of stifling the Crusaders’ offense, Capelli and Hammer went to work in the third quarter. The only two seniors on the team combined for all 16 points Snohomish scored in the frame as they entered the fourth trailing 38-35.

Capelli cut the deficit to one with a turnaround, fadeaway jumper nearly halfway through the fourth quarter, but a couple of turnovers on the subsequent possessions left the door open for Eastside Catholic to extend the lead.

With 1:45 left, Nduka pushed it to 42-39 with a shot off the glass following a Snohomish shot clock violation, and after a Panthers miss at the other end, freshman Sa’Fine Sampson scored on a backdoor layup to make it 44-39 with a minute to go.

Hammer nailed a jumper with 31.8 seconds left to put the game back within one possession, and Roberts emptied the bench for the purpose of getting their team fouls from one up to five as quickly as possible in order to stop the clock and send the Crusaders to the free throw line — and doing so without risking his starters fouling out. For sophomore Kennedy Perasso and junior Ava Larson, those six seconds were the only moments they saw the floor, but they did their jobs and put Eastside Catholic into the bonus with 27.7 seconds left.

Rotondo cut it 45-43 on a shot under the basket with under 20 seconds left after the Crusaders went 1-for-2 at the line, but Nduka sank both of her shots after she got fouled to put the game out of reach.

After winning 18 straight games following a 2-6 start to the season, picking up a district title along the way, Snohomish lost for the first time this calendar year. As disappointing as it was to see their hopes for a state championship end one game short, the Panthers never strayed from what made them great. It just didn’t work out this time.

“(We) had to battle through some things,” Roberts said. “At our Christmas tournament up in Lynden, the kids figured out we got to pay more attention to the little details. Every single possession, there’s a battle. You can cut harder, you can get more open for a teammate who’s working hard against somebody, and I felt like this team played like that tonight.”

The Panthers are not quite done. They have the opportunity to claim third place against No. 4 Roosevelt on Saturday, but there was a sense of finality after Friday’s loss.

As Capelli and Hammer departed the Tacoma Dome for the team hotel, the two seniors each put an arm around the other’s shoulders. They took just a few steps forward before Larson and freshman Terrayia Baisy flanked them on either side.

Just as they had all season, Snohomish united together and took every step together as one.

“We’ve dug ourselves out of just the biggest hole you can imagine,” Hammer said. “All the trials that each player has gone through this season, I think just having one another just on your side has just been so helpful. I love them all so much.”