SNOHOMISH — After Tuesday’s girls basketball game between Snohomish and host Glacier Peak, Panthers coach Ken Roberts stopped Grizzlies post Kayla Watkins as she was walking to her locker room.
“If you keep playing the way you played tonight, you guys have a chance to win the whole thing,” Roberts told her.
Glacier Peak crushed the previously unbeaten Panthers 71-55 in a game that really wasn’t even that close. The Grizzlies dominated from start to finish.
“We’re a good team. They’re an elite team,” Roberts said. “We lost to Central Valley in the (4A) state title game last year. I think Glacier Peak, talent-wise, could beat them. (Glacier Peak) should be one of the top teams in the state.”
The Grizzlies (5-1) have won five straight games after a season-opening loss to Stanwood.
“We feel good,” said Glacier Peak guard Paisley Johnson. “Everyone is playing well. Even if one of us has a down game, others step up, and people are really starting to fill roles. We’re a complete team, which is nice to see.”
But they’re still working hard to improve.
“The nice thing is that I don’t think we’ve played our best yet,” said Glacier Peak coach Brian Hill. “We have room to grow, on offense and defense.”
That’s a scary proposition for Glacier Peak’s future opponents. Its Tuesday opponent couldn’t recover from a 24-12 first-quarter deficit. Watkins scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the first eight minutes.
“We like to come out strong and get the other team tired because we can still keep going,” said Johnson, who scored 16 points.
Watkins had to sit out for some stretches due to foul trouble, but that didn’t stop Glacier Peak’s efficient offense. Johnson and Samantha Fatkin (10 points) excelled at lane penetration, and three Grizzlies role players — Nicole Jensen, Makayla Guerra and Abby Juozapaitis — hit two 3-pointers apiece.
“This was a good team win,” Hill said. “Everyone did a good job of contributing. They just did their jobs.”
Snohomish (6-1) has had a tough early season schedule, but emerged with some nice wins, including victories over Wesco 4A teams Monroe and Kamiak. The Panthers’ early season success has been mostly due to their defense, but they couldn’t stop the Grizzlies on Tuesday.
“We’re a young team,” Roberts said. “We’ve had a challenging non-league (schedule), so for us to (enter Tuesday’s game) 6-0, I wasn’t sure that was going to happen.”
Kyra Beckman, the Panthers’ post, scored 18 points, including 10 in the first quarter. Guard Maya DuChesne also had a nice game for Snohomish, hitting four 3-pointers on her way to 20 points.
“It might take awhile. We’re not going to play our best basketball until after Christmas,” Roberts said. “(Glacier Peak) is better than us now, but that’s a team that we can point to and say, ‘We need to play at that level.’ I’m excited for our kids because at the end of the year we have a chance to be good. We might take our lumps at times, but we’ll keep getting better.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
