EVERETT — The last time the Snohomish girls basketball team played a game in the Tacoma Dome was 2009 and it was for the state championship.
The Panthers are hoping for a similar fate this season.
They will have that opportunity next week after defeating Gig Harbor 53-40 in a 4A state regional game on Saturday.
“It feels good to get back,” Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said. “It’s exciting for this group to get there. They’ve played well the last two years.”
Snohomish forward Madeline Smith has been waiting four years for the opportunity to play in the Dome and she was still processing her team’s victory after the game.
“It feels surreal,” Smith said. “It doesn’t even feel like we’re going. I mean, we are. We’ve been talking about it all year. That was our one goal, to get there. I’m shaking. I’ve been shaking the entire game.”
If Smith was shaking, she didn’t let it show. The senior finished with 18 points to lead all scorers and also grabbed 10 rebounds despite dealing with double teams throughout the contest.
“It was just solid,” Roberts said of Smith. “It was a senior solid performance.”
Smith scored 12 of those 18 points in the second half. The Panthers were led in the first half by freshman forward Kyra Beckman, who scored seven of her 11 points in the game’s first two quarters.
“I thought Kyra Beckman really played well,” Roberts said. “That’s Kyra’s second game back (from injury). It’s huge to have her back because we maintain or even get better when she’s in. She was able to keep us in the lead throughout the game, not her alone, but her big minutes in the first half.”
The Panthers led throughout the first half, but couldn’t get enough defensive stops or make enough shots to extend the lead into double digits. The Tides were able to hang around thanks to the shooting of freshman guard Brynna Maxwell. Maxwell scored 12 points in the first half and made two 3-pointers.
Snohomish senior guard Shaylee Harwood was forced to sit for much of the first half with foul trouble, but when she returned in the second half, she shut Maxwell down.
The Tides got to within three late in the third quarter, but a quick 7-0 run pushed the lead back up to 10 and put the Panthers in control the rest of the way.
“We played pretty consistent defense,” Roberts said. “When Shaylee was out in the first half it made it difficult for us to play the type of defense we like to play, but we do play pretty consistent defense and we have spurts on offense. So we are able to make runs and we hit some shots.”
Maxwell finished the game with 15 points.
After losing their first three games of the season, the Panthers have now won 20 in a row — none more important than Saturday’s win over the Tides.
“A lot of the time we don’t really think about (the winning streak),” Smith said. “We were talking about it today before the game that nothing that has happened before this game really matters. This is a one-game season, so all that really matters is winning this game.”
At Everett Community College
Gig Harbor 6 12 12 10 —40
Snohomish 12 10 16 15 —53
Gig Harbor—Abby Nordquist 2, Hannah Carroll 0, Sydney Bertholf 1, Tessa Waage 8, Brynna Maxwell 15, Katie Emery 0, Emily Shields 0, Maddie Willett 14. Snohomish—Katie Brandvold 8, Morgan Marshall 0, Maya Duchesne 0, Emily Preach 3, Samantha Beeman 0, Shaylee Harwood 3, Madison Pollock 10, Madeline Smith 18, Cassidy McGee 0, Kyra Beckman 11, Madi VanSligtenhorst 0, Ellie Flitsch 0. Records—Gig Harbor 15-9 overall. Snohomish 20-3.
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