MONROE — Hey, coach, how’d you like to start things off with a crack at No. 1?
Monroe High School girls basketball coach Alan Dickson was recently asked a question along those lines. Originally scheduled to face Maple Ridge of British Columbia on Tuesday night, the organizer of the Cascade Classic tournament in which Monroe will play during the holidays asked Dickson if he’d like to face Rainier Beach instead.
Rather than open the season by beating up on Maple Ridge for the second straight year, Dickson told the organizer, Loren Stayboldt, ‘That’d be great.’"
Little did he know just how great it would turn out for the Bearcats.
Monroe overcame a nine-point, third-quarter deficit on Tuesday to beat Rainier Beach, the top-ranked Class 3A team in the WashingtonPreps.com poll, 58-44 in a non-conference game at Monroe High School.
Time will tell if the Bearcats, ranked fifth in Class 4A, are a championship contender or if Rainier Beach (2-1) was simply overrated. Either way, Dickson liked what he saw from his team, which returned four starters from last year’s run to the Class 4A state playoffs.
"It was a great game to open with," said Dickson, whose team could face Beach again in the Dec. 26-30 Cascade Classic in Sammamish. "They (the Vikings) are a really nice team. They are going to do real well."
The Vikings harassed Monroe into 25 turnovers, but the Bearcats kept their composure, committing only six while outscoring Beach 32-9 during the game’s final 11 minutes, 30 seconds.
"It was a good game to help us get ready," said 6-foot-6 Bearcats center Kirsten Thompson, who scored 17 of her game-high 23 points in the second half and pulled down seven rebounds. "They are a quick team. Once we realized how fast they are, it let us settle down and get into our offense."
While Monroe settled, Rainier Beach coach Kireen Ellis helped keep the Bearcats’ rolling when she was called for a technical foul with 2:38 remaining in the game. Sophomore Brittany Heilman, a Mariner transfer nicknamed "Big Smooth" because of her game’s resemblance to that of former Sonic Sam Perkins, hit both free throws. Chelsey Zimmerman doubled the foul’s potency by sinking a baseline runner to turn a six-point advantage into a 54-44 lead with 2 minutes to go. Heilman, a 6-foot guard-forward, contributed 12 of her 16 points in the final nine minutes. Zimmerman, who matched Rainier Beach’s quickness, added nine points and seven assists.
Zimmerman showed no effects of the back injury that forced her to miss the postseason last year, playing the role of defensive pest and offensive sparkplug.
"I like it up-tempo," said Zimmerman, who was likely one of the reasons Washington State coach Sherri Murrell was in attendance. "I don’t like the run, gun and turnover that we sometimes showed tonight. But, I like to push the ball."
Rainier Beach’s chances dimmed when point guard Jacqua Williams picked up her fourth of the allotted five fouls with 35.9 seconds remaining in the third. Williams, who scored 12 of her 15 points in the first half, went to the bench with her team leading 38-33. When she returned with 4:32 remaining in the game, Monroe led 44-41.
"This was a great loss," Williams said. "I’m glad it happened earlier rather than later. It’s just something we’re going to have to learn from and move on."
The Bearcats kept things close in the first half despite committing 17 turnovers. Rainier Beach lost the ball 11 times in the half, which the Vikings closed by hitting four free throws for a 28-22 lead.
Tianna Moriarity, who grabbed six of her seven rebounds in the second half, made a free throw to tie the score at 12 with 42 seconds remaining in the opening quarter, but the Bearcats turned the ball over five times during a 9-0 Beach run that put the Vikings up 21-12.
Trailing 24-14, the Bearcats made four consecutive shots to close the gap back to two points.
At Monroe H.S.
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