BOTHELL — Few teams owe how far they have advanced more to one player than the Monroe girls basketball team does to Suzanna Ohlsen.
In their first trip to the 4A state tournament since 2005, it was surely disappointing that Ohlsen and the Bearcats hardly got a chance to take in the atmos
phere before they were eliminated by Mt. Tahoma 73-62 Friday night at Inglemoor H.S.
The customary tears accompanied the Bearcats final walk to the locker room of the season, but there were no heads hung low and no looks of shame.
These girls battled hard.
“I’m proud of the girls,” second-year coach Rodney Walker said.
For a few moments it felt like Ohlsen — with plenty of help from the rest of the Monroe seniors — would still be able to will the team to victory and keep the Bearcats alive in the tournament despite trailing by as many as 27 points during the second quarter and surrendering a nightmare 33-point first quarter to the T-Birds.
During the early going it looked like it wouldn’t a fitting end to a special career for Ohlsen, who has led the team in scoring the past two years. The T-bird pressure forced Monroe in general and Ohlsen in particular to shots that were clearly out of their comfort zones and the results showed in the shooting percentage in the first half.
“Every time somebody scored (for Tahoma), we tried to answer without running our offense,” Walker said.
Ohlsen scored a team-high 20 points on the night but had just a single reverse layin and three free throws in the first half to go with plenty of missed field goals.
“The key to the game was slowing 10 (Ohlsen’s number) down,” T-Birds coach Calvin McHenry said. “We let the other girls make shots.
“We doubled her just to get her out of her rhythm.”
Tahoma’s strategy worked. Until the middle of the third quarter.
Deborah Anderson opened the quarter with four of her game-high 22 points on back-to-back buckets that gave the T-Birds a 48-23 advantage.
For several minutes neither team could muster anything on offense until Ohlsen keyed a 14-0 run. Monroe’s Erika Snell hit her first 3 of the game followed by Ohlsen, who drained a 3 from the same spot on the way to eight consecutive points.
After Anderson recorded a steal and scored a layin for Tahoma, the Bearcats reeled off another 9-0 to close the quarter down by just four for the first time since the game’s opening seconds.
Walker told the Bearcats the game wasn’t over at halftime and they seized the moment.
“They came out and did exactly what I asked them to do,” Walker said.
The T-Birds’ 6-foot-7 center Jessi had about as quiet a game as someone who is 8 inches taller than anyone on the floor can, but her calm play in the fourth quarter helped Tahoma pull away and secure the victory. She scored seven of her 17 points in the fourth quarter.
“We probably underestimated (her),” Walker said of the senior center who averaged just 10 points per game entering Friday compared with her teammate Anderson’s 30 per game. “She got some cheapies that hurt us.”
After the gameThe coach just shook his head after the game. He could only shower praise on his seniors: Bianca O’Hara, Rachel Johnson, Snell and Ohlsen, who all played the final game of their high school careers.
At Inglemoor H.S.
Mt. Tahoma 33 11 9 20 — 73
Monroe 8 15 25 14 — 62
Mt. Tahoma—Lopez 0, Keys 4, Davis 6, Reed 2, Ruffin 0, Williamson 17, Johnson 0, Williams 5, Anderson 22, Bunger 15, Chambers 0, Asi. Monroe—Johnson 0, Ohlsen 20, O’Hara 2, Brazel 15, Turner 0, Alexander 8, Wangner 0, Smith 5, Shore 1, Murphy 0, Wilkins 1, Snell 10. 3-Point Goals—Anderson 2, Davis 2, Williams 1, Ohlsen 3, Brazel 3, Snell 2, Smith 1. Records—Mt. Tahoma 17-4 overall. Monroe 14-10.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
