EVERETT — The Monroe girls basketball team clamped on the defense in the second half, holding Jackson to just 13 points en route to a 46-32 victory Thursday in a Class 4A District 1 loser-out game at Everett Community College.
The Bearcats (17-7) advanced to Saturday’s second-place game against Lake Stevens. The winner on Saturday moves on to the regional round of the state tournament.
Monroe, which led the entire contest, had just five players score, led by a 13-point performance from senior post Amber Van Brunt. Senior guard Kylee Ferreira and junior guard Emily Donnelly each recorded 10 points, and senior forward Alex Alexander added nine points and 13 rebounds.
“We just got to understand it doesn’t matter who scores as long as we win the basketball game,” Monroe head coach Matt Chalfant said.
Jackson was plagued by 14 turnovers and had just one player score in double figures — junior forward Drew Locknane, with 11 points. Locknane knocked down all three of her 3-point attempts made in the game in the second quarter to help Jackson cut a 13-point deficit to two points by the halftime break. But Monroe limited her to just two free throws the rest of the way.
“We are high-intensity, high-octane on defense,” Chalfant said. “We try to get deflections and pick you up full court. We are going to get after you. And that’s kind of been our philosophy all season long.”
After failing to score for the first six minutes of the third quarter, the Timberwolves finished the period on a 7-0 run, capped by a banked 3-pointer by sophomore guard Emily Brown to cut the deficit to five entering the final period. But the Bearcats opened the final quarter on a 6-0 run and held the T-wolves to just two field goals over the final eight minutes to seal the victory.
“I go back to that second quarter, we played very selfish basketball,” Chalfant said. “At halftime I told them, ‘Look, if you play unselfish, you give up that extra pass, run our offense, we are going to win this game.’ And they did that.”
Jackson finishes the season with a 10-14 record.
At Everett C.C.
Jackson 6 13 7 6 —32
Monroe 14 7 10 15 —46
Jackson—Emily Kipp 3, Olivia Miller 4, Emily Brown 3, Imari Clinton 8, Drew Locknane 11, Mackenzie Conrad 0, Kassaundra Jackson 1, Jadyn Edwards 2. Monroe—Kylee Ferreira 10, Emily Donnelly 4, Hannah Drivstuen 10, Alex Alexander 9, Chelsea Santjer 0, Amber Van Brunt 13, Loryn Moore 0. 3-point goals—Ferreira 1, Drivstuen 2, Alexander 2, Brown 1, Clinton 2, Locknane 3. Records—Jackson 10-14. Monroe 17-7.
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