MARYSVILLE — Brooke Pahukoa doesn’t start for the Lake Stevens girls basketball team and that is just fine for her.
The freshman guard is the first player off the bench for the Vikings and may well earn the nickname “Energizer” by the end of her first season.
Her energy sparked Lake Stevens enough Wednesday night to knock out league-leader Marysville-Pilchuck 62-53 on the Tomahawks’ home court.
“I like seeing the game first so that when I go in I know exactly what I have to do,” Pahukoa said. “I know that my role is to come in and bring energy to the team. When coach put me in he told me that’s exactly what I had to do.”
The Vikings’ offense was stymied from the opening tip. Lake Stevens was listless and quickly fell behind 12-4 with 3:09 remaining in the first quarter, having failed to sink a field goal.
That all changed when Pahukoa checked in. The 5-foot-9 guard immediately inspired both the Vikings’ defense and offense. Meghan Warbis, who had a team-high eight rebounds, made Lake Stevens’ first basket, but Pahukoa got the next two — the second of which was a turnaround jumper in the lane that became a three-point play when she was fouled.
Lake Stevens looked like a different team from then on, taking its first lead in the second quarter.
“Her athleticism lifts our group up,” Viking coach Randall Edens said of Pahukoa.
That same athleticism was never more evident than with just less than two minutes remaining in the game and Lake Stevens up by seven. An M-P guard got careless with her dribble and Pahukoa lunged to jab it free. She scooped it up and outraced the entire team for her final basket of the game and 16th point, just one off her season high.
“That’s my favorite coming from behind because they don’t really look behind them and when they are dribbling high it’s a dead giveaway,” Pahukoa said. “That’s my favorite thing to do.”
With the experience she’s gained from the 16 games she’s played, Pahukoa is effectively a sophomore, Edens said, but she still makes a few freshman mistakes. She led the team with five turnovers, including three travelling violations.
M-P’s loss was no doubt a setback for the Tomahawks (10-2 Wesco North, 12-4 overall), who escaped Lake Stevens (8-4, 11-5) with a win Dec. 16 in the team’s first meeting of the year. Still, they remained in first because second-place Monroe lost in overtime to Arlington. The Bearcats remain a game behind Marysville-Pilchuck.
Wednesday’s Vikings-Tomahawks’ game was a tough, foul-filled affair — five players fouled out on the evening — but Marysville coach Julie Martin left the game proud of her team.
“My girls worked really, really hard today,” Martin said.
Dacia Heckendorf, at times visibly bothered by a sprained ankle suffered early in the year, fought through it to lead Marysville with 14 points.
Lake Stevens threw a few different defensive looks at the Tomahawks including extending out its zone to bother M-P’s shooters.
It worked well enough to hold the Tomahawks to just two shots from long range on the night and none in the first half.
“We are more of a 3-point shooting team,” Martin said.
Part of the Viking defensive pressure came from 5-foot-5 Corinne Burke. The junior guard led the team with four steals to go with her game-high 23 points. She did much of her damage at the free-throw line.
The Viking first-half surge came in large part at the free-throw line where they shot 15-for-17 in the first half. However, ome shaky free-throw shooting by Lake Stevens in the fourth quarter kept Marysville in the game until the end.
Lake Stevens’ big win gives the Vikings confidence as they head toward the postseason, which begins is just a few short weeks.
“All of them are big, but the second time through is important,” Edens said. “The important thing is get some momentum going into the district tournament.”
At Marysville-Pilchuck H.S.
Lake Stevens11151917—62
Marysville-Pilchuck1216918—53
Lake Stevens — Goddard 0, Puha 0, Peterson 5, Bostwick 0, Warbis 6, Chantelle Burke 0, Corinne Burke 23, Schumacher 5, Molstre 3, Pahukoa 16, Wilson 2. Marysville-Pilchuck — Oden 1, Lentz 7, Martinis 3, Adams 7, Peterson 0, Beyer 0, Watson 9, Heckendorf 14, Enberg 12, Rossnagle 0. 3-point goals — Corrinne Burke, Schumacher, Martinis, Adams. Team records — Lake Stevens 8-4 league, 11-5 overall, Marysville 10-2, 12-4.
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