TACOMA — The Snohomish girls basketball team took a lot of pleasure in proving people wrong this season.
A team that didn’t crack the Associated Press top 10 poll until the final week of the season, the Panthers showed they belonged at the state tournament battling with top-ranked Central Valley in a hard-fought 4A state championship game. In the end, the Bears pulled away late to defeat Snohomish 57-48 Saturday night, but the Panthers loved surprising everybody with their run at the Tacoma Dome.
“I am insanely proud of the team and how far we’ve come,” said senior Shaylee Harwood. “Coming here we were labeled the ‘dark horse,’ we were ranked in the last poll and I don’t think that anyone expected us to get as far as we did. Being with this team — we are literally family — and getting this far was really amazing. I’m so proud of them.”
Snohomish (22-4) started its season 0-3 with tough losses to Glacier Peak, Lynnwood and Arlington — all three strong opponents with the latter making it to the 3A state title game.
But after getting healthy and finding its rhythm, Snohomish rattled off 22 consecutive victories to make it to championship Saturday at the 4A state tournament.
“We weren’t an unranked team or a No. 10 team and I knew that,” said Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts. … We knew we were good.”
Snohomish proved that with an overtime victory over Lewis and Clark in the quarterfinals and a 47-41 victory over Bothell in the semifinals.
That set up a showdown with undefeated Central Valley.
The Panthers struck first, scoring the game’s first four points before the Bears seized momentum. Central Valley led by as much as 11 in the first half and boasted a 24-17 halftime lead.
Then Snohomish used its not-so-secret weapon.
The Panthers’ 6-foot-1 senior Madeline Smith scored all 13 of Snohomish’s third-quarter points to bring the Panthers back to within five heading to the fourth. Smith had a basket to tie the score at 35, but Central Valley battled back with a 12-2 run to pull away and clinch its first state title since 2002.
“We knew we could win that game,” Roberts said. “There was a little stretch there that was frustrating for us with some things that happened but our kids played through it, made some runs. … We executed pretty well and played hard. They’re good.”
Smith, who has signed with Montana State, finished with 28 points. She kept the Panthers in the game and helped Snohomish storm back early in the fourth quarter.
“It takes your good players stepping up and she played really good,” Roberts said. “She played awesome tonight. Our game plan was feed her and make them guard her. They’re fast, they’re athletic but they’re also really skinny. We went through her.”
Fellow senior Madison Pollock, who is committed to the University of San Diego, finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Both Pollock and Smith were named to the 4A State All-Tournament first team, but Pollock was quick to praise Smith for her performance.
“I’m so proud of her,” Pollock said. “A state championship game (and) she just killed it. She did awesome.”
Smith and Pollock were a primary concern for Central Valley head coach Freddie Rehkow.
“I was worried about their bigs, because they’re big,” Rehkow said. “They’re 6-2 and (stronger) than we are. Of course, everybody here is (stronger) than we are.”
It was Snohomish’s first trip to the Tacoma Dome since 2009 — when the Panthers also reached the state title game. Roberts has been the coach for three of the Panthers’ four all-time appearances in the championship.
Snohomish’s first-ever appearance in the state championship came in 1993 — when the Panthers lost to Central Valley.
Bears sophomores Lexie Hull and Hailey Christopher led Central Valley (28-0) with 16 points apiece — with Hull also grabbing eight rebounds in the contest. Freshman Mady Simmelink added 12 points for a young Central Valley team that features only one senior.
“As much as you know what you need to do it’s tough because they’re so stinking quick,” Roberts said.
As Snohomish’s success continued over the season, the Panthers’ four seniors — Smith, Pollock, Harwood and Ellie Flitsch — led the way, according to Roberts.
“After getting to know them for four years, it is so hard as a teacher and coach to lose those kind of kids,” Roberts said. “They should be very proud of what they did. We played good tonight.
“I’m really proud of the whole team. … Our whole senior class is just great kids. I’m going to miss them a heck of a lot.”
While their season didn’t end with a state championship the Panthers still know they accomplished quite a bit finishing second of the 65 4A teams in the state.
And it all started with three losses.
“If you had asked us at the beginning of the season if we would have been in the championship game we would’ve said, ‘We’d love to.’ It’s just not something that we were thinking (about),” Smith said. “We were taking it one step at a time. Each time we got to our goal. At first our goal was getting district champs. Then it was regionals. Then winning each game at state. Once we got here we wanted to win.
“It doesn’t always go your way. I would not have wanted to play with any other team than this. I’d rather lose with this team than win with someone else.”
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