Glacier Peak girls basketball rolls past Shorewood

Published 12:30 am Wednesday, December 10, 2025

SNOHOMISH — Glacier Peak girls basketball is not the same team as last year.

After marching to the WIAA 4A State semifinals as the No. 13 seed off the back of elite outside shooting — in large part from then-senior star Brynna Pukis — Glacier Peak returned to the hardwood for the 2025-26 season looking for a new identity.

“We’re not the same outside shooting team that we were last year,” Glacier Peak coach Brian Hill said. “But we could still find ways to put the ball in the hole. It’s just going to be a little different.”

The new-look Grizzlies (4-0) were tested early while hosting Shorewood on Tuesday. After allowing just one made field goal through the first 5:13 of the game, Glacier Peak saw the visitors hit two free throws and a pair of 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 14-11 with less than 90 seconds left in the first quarter.

Last year’s Grizzlies may have felt the need to shoot their way back ahead, but that wouldn’t be an option for this year’s team. It wouldn’t need to be.

With a dominant presence on the offensive glass and strong defensive plays turning into fast-break points, Glacier Peak pulled ahead 20-13 in the first quarter on a flurry of baskets before a 10-point run in the second quarter extended the lead to 20 points. In the end, the Grizzlies cruised to a 77-46 victory against the Stormrays (0-4).

Sophomore Lily Riechelson recorded a double-double (22 points, 11 rebounds, five steals, three assists) for Glacier Peak, while senior Zoey Ritter (17 points) and junior Skylar Giacomi (12 points, five rebounds, four steals) played key roles in the victory. However, the Grizzlies received contributions from up and down the roster. All eight players who entered the game scored at least three points, and all but one pulled down at least three rebounds.

“I feel like each game, we’re getting better,” Riechelson said. “Each game, we’re starting to trust each other more and play together (since) we have a bunch of new people.”

Senior Rose Gallagher (13 points, seven rebounds) and sophomore Melanie Degenhardt (13 points, three rebounds) tied for the Stormrays’ lead in scoring, with junior Karmin Kasberg (12 points) trailing behind.

After losing nine seniors to graduation from last year and bringing back just two returning players, Shorewood coach Brandon Glasser is essentially building a new team from scratch. Additionally, Elle Wiehle, who played a prominent role as a freshman last season, moved to Florida with her family over the summer, only adding to the massive turnover.

“It’s just about keeping perspective that we’re growing,” Glasser said. “We need to make sure that these kinds of defeats aren’t going to define us early on, and it’s something that we can get better from, so we’re sending that message as we get ready for league play.”

Both sides started slow offensively. The first field goal didn’t come until 2:30 into the game, when Giacomi scored on a fast break, assisted by Riechelson following a rebound from junior Sydney Morisset. Giacomi completed an ‘and-1’ on the next possession, and the Grizzlies pulled ahead 12-3 with 2:46 left in the first quarter by taking advantage of second-chance scoring opportunities from offensive rebounds.

The Stormrays responded with a pair of free throws from Gallagher and a couple 3’s from Degenhardt to cut the deficit, but Riechelson hit a jumper and a putback layup in the final minute before Giacomi stole the ball under the basket in the final seconds and scored another two points to make it 20-13 entering the second quarter.

“I think it was our transitions,” Giacomi said as the key to closing out the first quarter. “We really pulled away in transition because we were just running out and getting out there as fast as we could, which I feel like really helped us because they weren’t getting back, and I feel like that was really what set us apart.”

Said Glasser: “We definitely have lapses on both ends of the court right now. I think we find ourselves in a space where we think that we need to take the first shot, and we could maybe wait and get something a little bit better.”

Ritter started to get involved for Glacier Peak in the second quarter after getting into foul trouble in the first, scoring six points in the first three minutes, but Shorewood kept up the pace, with Gallagher hitting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to cut it to 30-20 with just under five minutes left in the half.

That’s when the Grizzlies took control. With 3-pointers from sophomore Taya-Jayne Baines and Giacomi bookending a putback layup from Morisset and a Riechelson steal/assist to freshman Aliyah Jazmin, Glacier Peak went on a 10-0 run to go up 40-20 until Kasberg scored a layup to stop the bleeding for the Stormrays with around two minutes left before the break.

“I just feel like when one person starts getting hot, it really sparks everyone and uplifts everybody,” Riechelson said. “And then we just get on a roll as a team, so I think executing our offense really sparked it.”

It was smooth sailing from there. Riechelson continued to impose her will on the defensive end while finishing plays on the other side throughout the third quarter. In addition to scoring 10 of her 22 points in the third, Riechelson pulled down a rebound and assisted a corner 3 from Jazmin with just over a minute left before Ritter executed a mean crossover into a layup as time expired to increase the lead to 62-34.

Glacier Peak ballooned its lead as high as 34 points with a steal and layup from Giacomi, followed by a layup from Ritter to make it 75-41 with around 3:30 left in the game, before settling at a 77-46 win.

As Shorewood aims to regroup following a tough non-league slate riddled with Wesco 4A teams to open the season, the Grizzlies will gear up for a crosstown rivalry game against Snohomish on Thursday before opening league play against Arlington on Friday. Hill acknowledged that it will be a tough back-to-back filled with emotions and physicality, but he likes what his team has shown so far.

“(Riechelson) is really coming into her own, only a sophomore,” Hill said. “She’s kind of a load inside and (Giacomi) comes in and she adds some depth, so we’re a little more inside-outside, outside-inside. It’s a little more well-rounded instead of, ‘Oh, got to hit a bunch of 3’s tonight, otherwise things are going to be bad,’ right? …

“Anybody on our squad, I think, can go for 15, 20 points a night. If they share the ball and distribute it and play together as a team, and not worry about who gets whose (stats), I think we’ll be okay.”