TACOMA – The Jackson girls basketball team saw its dream of a state championship end with a loss to Mead on Wednesday and the Timberwolves wanted to avoid ending their entire season with another defeat on Thursday.
Trailing by 10 points in the early moments of the fourth quarter, Jackson staged a spirited comeback to slip past Skyview of Vancouver, 59-55, in a loser-out consolation game at the Class 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
The victory keeps Jackson alive in the double-elimination tournament. The T-wolves can clinch a top-eight trophy by beating Puyallup in an 11 a.m. game today.
Against Skyview, Jackson was plagued by poor shooting for most of the first three quarters. In particular, the T-wolves were completely errant from the 3-point line, going 0-for-14 in that span.
But in the fourth quarter, two 3-pointers by guard Ashly Bruns helped kindle the team’s rally and Kristi Kingma converted a pivotal three-point play with a field goal and a free throw in the final minute to put Jackson on top to stay.
“We came out kind of slow,” said Jackson coach Jeannie Thompson said. “We were fighting through a lot of emotions after losing (Wednesday), and I think it took us a few quarters to get into the game.
“But I’m especially proud of my kids. For being down by 10 points in the fourth quarter, they really persevered and were able to knock down some big shots in the final minutes of the game to pull out a big win,” she said.
Kingma finished with 23 points to lead Jackson, despite a spotty offensive game. The senior guard, bound for the University of Washington, was 8-for-17 from the field, but 0-for-8 from the 3-point line through the first three quarters.
“Kristi’s shots in the first half were pretty off,” Thompson said. “But her ability to stay in the game was phenomenal. She did a great job of keeping her confidence up.”
Despite the team’s three-quarter string of 3-point misses, she added, “the shots we took were really open. We have so many kids who can step up and knock those down and it’s a big part of our offensive mentality. It allows us to stretch the defense out, and up to this point (of the season) we’ve been able to knock them down.
“But unfortunately in the last two games we’ve been very cold out there, though Ashley Bruns hit two really big 3s in the fourth.”
Center Brittany Eskridge added 15 points and four blocked shots for Jackson, while Bruns contributed 14 points and eight rebounds.
At the Tacoma Dome
Skyview9171514-55
Jackson7121426-59
Skyview-Olbrich 6, Powell 5, Leverenz 7, Click 6, Cloakey 2, Jagelski 7, Smith 21, Mukensnabi 1. Jackson-Bruns 14, Kingma 23, Todd 3, Sam 2, Addington 2, Eskridge 15. 3-point goals-Leverenz 2, Powell 1, Bruns 2.
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