TACOMA — Teams don’t typically turn to a freshman with a Class 4A state playoff game’s outcome on the line.
Snohomish’s Amanda Best is no typical freshman.
Best hit a 3-point basket to send Thursday’s quarterfinal game into overtime and ended her team’s string of six straight misses at the free-throw line to lead the Panthers to a thrilling 58-56 overtime victory over Richland at the Tacoma Dome.
"I don’t think of her as a freshman," said Snohomish guard Kristin Moore, who sealed Richland’s fate by converting an alley-oop layup off Daesha Henderson’s pass with 11 seconds remaining in overtime. "She’s just a teammate."
The Panthers (23-3) will play the winner of Thursday’s late Lewis &Clark-Roosevelt game in tonight’s 8:30 p.m. semifinal.
Snohomish seemed doomed when Richland’s Jessica Miller hit a 3 to give the Bombers a 47-44 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
The Panthers passed the ball around for 20 seconds before Snohomish coach Ken Roberts called a timeout with 12 seconds to go. Some coaches might be committed to a mental hospital for putting an entire season on a freshman’s shoulders. Roberts never had a doubt that Best was the one he wanted to take the shot.
"There was no question tonight that we were going to her," Roberts said.
He called the play the Panthers had been working on in recent days. Best, daughter of former Mariners pitcher Karl Best, had made three of four attempts from well outside the 3-point line while the team worked on the play in a recent practice.
Best fired her 3 with her toes on the NBA 3-point line, and leaped high into the air when it went cleanly through. The Bombers (24-3), who called a timeout with 1.8 seconds remaining, missed a 3 at the end of regulation.
"I was relieved," said Best, who gave Snohomish a 56-52 edge by sinking two free throws with 56 seconds remaining in overtime. "It’s all about the win."
Henderson made her first field goal of the game to give Snohomish a 35-29 lead with 7:33 remaining in the game. The Bombers scored the game’s next eight points to take their first lead of the game, 38-36, with 6:17 remaining. Richland received an added lift during the run when post Sydney Benson — who scored a team-high 14 points — committed her third and fourth of the allotted five fouls during a 16-second span.
Henderson tied the score at 39, but Richland’s Stephanie Sax made a pair of free throws and Jessica Miller hit a 3 with two seconds remaining on the shot clock for a five-point Bombers’ lead.
Tara Angell hit a 3 to tie the score at 44 before Miller’s dagger with 32 seconds to go in the fourth.
"We haven’t played our best basketball yet," Roberts said. "Hopefully this will give us a second life. That game was gone until Amanda hits that 3."
Benson got Snohomish started off in style with a 3-point play 10 seconds into the game. She also scored Snohomish’s first points of the second half on a 3-point play. The Panthers led 11-8 after a quarter, but Jessica Miller tied the score at 11 with a 3-point basket 26 seconds into the second quarter.
The Panthers scored the game’s next five points, but Alece McCoy returned from early foul trouble to hit a 3, cutting the Panthers’ lead to 20-18 with 1:47 remaining in the half. McCoy tallied 17 points and eight rebounds.
Britni Rathke gave Snohomish a 25-19 halftime edge by sinking a pair of free throws with 28 seconds to go.
Moore, who contributed four of her 11 points and two of her team-high seven rebounds in overtime, hopes the Panthers will continue to open some eyes tonight.
"People expected us to lose, and we’re in the semifinals," Moore said. "It feels pretty good."
Thanks largely to a ninth-grader.
Snohomish—Manning 2, Best 5, Henderson 7, Moore 11, Angell 8, Rathke 4, Benson 14, Wilde 3, Cassidy 4. Richland—H. McCoy 5, McKeirnan 2, Conrad 3, Sax 9, A. McCoy 17, Briggs 1, Miller 19, Landon. 3-point goals—Best 1, Angell 2, H. McCoy 1, Conrad 1, A. McCoy 1, Miller 3. Records—Snohomish 23-2 overall. Richland 24-3. |
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