By Chris Beatty
Herald Writer
MUKILTEO — Meadowdale girls basketball coach Karen Blair felt her team learned a valuable lesson from their Dec. 1 loss to Kennewick.
"We were in it right up until there were four minutes left in the game, but we just let down," Blair said. "After that loss, we really talked about playing all 32 minutes of a game, and playing as a team."
It was very obvious Friday night that the Mavericks had learned that lesson and learned it very well. They kept up their intensity an entire game and blew out defending conference champion Kamiak 75-53 in a Western Conference South Division game.
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening minute, Meadowdale’s Anne Martin made four consecutive 3-pointers to give the Mavericks a 12-2 advantage. Although Kamiak finished the first quarter with a run to close to within 14-11, the Knights never got closer than four the rest of the game.
"We did a really nice job of spreading the floor and reversing the ball, and we really contained the ball on defense," Blair said. "We really showed great team chemistry."
With the triumph, Class 3A Meadowdale, who competes during the regular season in the Wesco 4A, is 4-0 in division play and 4-1 overall. Class 4A Kamiak is now 2-1, 2-2.
It is hard to determine which statistic is more impressive, the number of rebounds Meadowdale grabbed, or the number of assists made by the Mavericks.
Meadowdale out-rebounded Kamiak 33-23. The Mavericks had 18 total assists as a team, led by freshman point guard Ashley Fenimore’s six.
Meadowdale began to pull away from Kamiak in the second quarter. Leading 24-21 midway through the quarter, Meadowdale used a 15-6 run paced by forward Tara Jacob’s six points and two more three-point baskets by Martin to take a 39-27 halftime lead.
Martin had 19 points after two quarters, and finished with a game-high 21 points, to go along with three steals.
"This is not the playoffs or the tournament," Kamiak coach Doug Montzingo said. "This is just the regular season.
"We scored enough points to win tonight, we just couldn’t shut them down. In the first half we didn’t contain their three-point shooting, and in the second half they beat us with their inside game and rebounding."
Jennie Swerk and Jacob led the Mavericks’ inside attack. Swerk finished with 14 points, including 10 points in the second half, to go along with nine rebounds. Jacob had 16 points and five rebounds.
"We’ve been playing more as a team," Swerk said. "This was a team effort, but we know that we’re going to have to try even harder the next time we play them."
Leading players for Kamiak included Emily Jenkins with 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Teammate Kelsey Larsen also scored 14 points and collected five rebounds.
| Meadowdale |
14 |
25 |
12 |
24 |
— |
75 |
| Kamiak |
11 |
16 |
7 |
19 |
— |
53 |
Meadowdale—Swerk 14, Fenimore 2, Jacob 16, Martin 21, Brewe 8, Anderton 6, Marte 2, Hoffman 6. Kamiak—Bothwell 1, Petersen 4, Jenkins 14, Larsen 14, Arnestad 12, D. Garski 6, Lee 2. 3-point goals—Martin 6, Arnestad 2, Larsen 3. JV score—Kamiak 55, Meadowdale 40. Records—Meadowdale: 4-0 in division, 4-1 overall. Kamiak: 2-1, 2-2.
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