MARYSVILLE – One year after ending its season in bitter disappointment, the Snohomish girls basketball team made sure nothing stopped it this time around.
The Snohomish Panthers steadily pulled away with a balance of inside-outside scoring, superb rebounding and stout defense to defeat the surprising Lake Stevens Vikings 54-36 Friday in the winner-to-state Class 4A Northwest District championship game at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School gym.
Forward Emily Cassidy scored a team-high 11 points for Snohomish, which improved its record to 21-2. The Panthers have won 11 consecutive games.
After missing out on a trip to the Tacoma Dome last year, the Panthers have plenty of momentum heading into the state tournament next week.
“We’re excited to be going down there,” Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said. “They were disappointed to not have gone last year.”
Post Katie Holloway scored a game-high 16 points and corralled eight rebounds for Lake Stevens (15-9), which will play Monroe (22-2) in a loser-out, winner-to-state second-place game at 4 p.m. today at Jackson High School.
Defense was the key for the Panthers, Roberts said. “Our defense has been pretty solid all year. But I wasn’t very happy with our offense tonight.”
Still, Snohomish had more than enough fire power. Freshman reserve guard Amanda Best made a 3-point basket from the the right wing with five minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the game to give the Panthers a 51-30 advantage and put the game away.
Eight different players scored and nearly as many picked up steals for Snohomish, which impressed Lake Stevens coach Tom Tri.
“They’re just so deep,” he said. “They force you into mistakes that you’re not used to. They dare you to beat their pressure.”
Tri likes the Panthers’ chances at state: “They’re the best team that we’ve played this year.”
Snohomish made sure to not overlook Lake Stevens, Panther forward Sydney Benson (eight points) said. The Vikings came out of nowhere as the North No. 5 seed to advance to the district title game, but they couldn’t surprise the Panthers.
As her teammates cut down the net after the victory, Benson said she was mostly “relieved. I had to wait a whole week for this game. I’m really happy. We worked really hard to get here and now we’re going to state.”
“Last year we were really young and inexperienced,” said Snohomish guard Kristin Moore, who scored eight points, including six straight for the Panthers in the second quarter.
No such problems this season.
Lake Stevens must regroup quickly to face a Monroe team seeking revenge for a first-round district loss to the Vikings. “It’s neat that we get a rematch with Monroe,” Tri said, “but we’ll have to match their energy.”
Regardless, Lake Stevens has had an amazing run this postseason. “Yeah, it’s great fun,” Tri said. “We’re still playing … and a lot of teams are sitting at home right now.”
Snohomish is still the only team to have defeated Meadowdale, which advanced to the Class 3A state championship game with a victory Friday night in Tacoma.
The Panthers swept the regular-season series against Lake Stevens, also winning 54-19 Jan. 14 at Snohomish and 58-30 Feb. 13 at Lake Stevens.
Holloway of did plenty of damage for Lake Stevens when she was on the floor – she scored a team-high eight points and to go with four rebounds in the first half – but the 6-foot-3 post was limited by foul trouble. She committed her third personal with 2:11 to go in the half and sat out until the intermission. Holloway scored all six Viking points in the third quarter and eight straight counting her lay-in about two minutes into the fourth.
Lake Stevens-Holloway 16, West 7, Estes 2, Housden 6, Fisher 5. Snohomish-Henderson 3, Cassidy 11, Best 10, Moore 8, Wilde 4, Angell 8, Manning 2, Benson 8. 3-point goals-Angell 2, Best 2, Moore, Housden. Records-Lake Stevens 15-9 overall. Snohomish 21-2. |
Monroe 60, Oak Harbor 50: Monroe guard Danie Drivstuen scored six points in the final three minutes, 18 seconds to fend off Oak Harbor in the loser-out game. The Wilcats closed to within four points at 50-46 with 3:50 to play.
Oak Harbor-Bratt 10, McNeill 17, Smollack 9, White 12, Watts 2. Monroe-Morton 12, Zimmerman 15, D. Drivstuen 7, Thompson 8, Kolrud 3, Heilman 7, Moriarity 2, Muhammad 4. 3-point goals-Smollack 1, D. Drivstuen 1, Heilman 1. Records-Oak Harbor 13-11 overall. Monroe 22-2. |
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