STANWOOD — Though Stanwood is a young team still learning about poise, the Spartans had just enough composure and confidence in the late moments of regulation and overtime to pull out a 52-49 girls basketball victory over visiting Marysville-Pilchuck on Tuesday night.
Stanwood, which has just one senior on its roster, had to come from behind in the last half-minute of the fourth quarter and then again in the last 30 seconds of OT to get a hard-earned win that clinches a Class 4A District 1 playoff berth.
M-P also clinched a district playoff berth. With one league game to play, it can only be caught by Snohomish and the Tomahawks were 2-0 in head-to-head contests with the Panthers.
“This is fun,” said a relieved Dennis Kloke, Stanwood’s head coach, after the game. “But I told the girls that from Thursday on (when the Spartans wrap up their regular season) it’s going to be just like this every game. Any team can beat any team.”
It is, he added, “good high school basketball.”
Stanwood, which improved its season record to 13-6 and its Western Conference North mark to 9-5, got a huge game from Paisley Heckman, a 6-foot junior post. She led all scorers with 21 points and also collected 14 rebounds.
And she was utterly calm with the pressure was at its peak.
With 3.6 seconds to play in regulation, and with Marysville-Pilchuck holding a 46-44 lead, Heckman stepped to the free throw line and coolly dropped in two attempts to tie the score and send the game to overtime.
In OT, Stanwood missed six of its first seven chances from the field and trailed 49-48 inside a half-minute. But after a missed Tomahawk free throw, the Spartans hustled the ball up the court and guard Renee Lucero spotted teammate Brenda Bingham free on the left baseline.
Bingham’s 15-footer was true, lifting Stanwood to a 50-49 lead.
“I told the kids, ‘If you’ve got the shot, take the shot, and then crash the boards.’ We didn’t have time to mess around,” Kloke said. “We either had to put the ball in right away or get another look. … But (Bingham) stepped up and did it.”
Moments later, Marysville-Pilchuck turned the ball over. And on Stanwood’s ensuing possession, Lucero was fouled and converted two more free throws for a three-point margin.
The Tomahawks tried for a tying 3-point shot in the closing seconds, but the attempt missed and Stanwood snagged the rebound as the horn sounded.
Earlier, the Spartans had used 10 straight points from late in the first quarter to early in the second period to build a seven-point lead, the largest by either team in the game. And after Marysville-Pilchuck crept back for a brief two-point lead, Stanwood closed the first half with a 12-2 scoring spree for a 31-23 halftime margin.
But the Tomahawks kept battling back. They pulled within five points through three quarters, and then turned up their defense late in the fourth period, holding Stanwood scoreless for the final four minutes — until Heckman sank her two late free throws, that is.
Surely, Marysville-Pilchuck will look back at this as a game it let slip away. The Tomahawks struggled against Stanwood’s press and had several turnovers, and they had a woeful night from the free throw line, converting just five of 18 attempts in regulation _ obviously crucial in a game that went to overtime.
Stanwood wasn’t much better at the stripe _ 6-for-13 in regulation and 8-for-15 for the game _ but the Spartans compensated in other ways. They finished with 19 offensive rebounds and turned several of those into second-chance points, with Bingham nabbing a team-best six offensive rebounds.
“I loved the effort,” Kloke said. “But we’ve struggled with (poise this season).”
The Spartans recently let a 16-point halftime lead get away against Lake Stevens, and they had to rally after giving up an eight-point halftime margin against Marysville-Pilchuck on Tuesday.
“That’s part of growing up,” he said. “We haven’t quite learned how to become a little more patient once you get that (large) lead. We need to run when we can, but (if not) set it up and make the other team play defense.”
With recent losses to Wesco North contenders Lake Stevens and Monroe, Stanwood has seen itself slip lower in the standings.
“When we played Lake Stevens we were tied for first,” Kloke said. “When we played Monroe we were tied for second. And tonight we played Marysville and we were tied for third. So my assistant said, ‘We don’t want to be tied for fourth.’”
But with enough poise down the stretch, the Spartans managed to hang onto third place Tuesday night.
And clinch a district playoff spot for good measure.
At Stanwood H.S.
Marysville-Pilchuck 10 13 7 16 3 — 49
Stanwood 9 22 4 11 6 — 52
Marysville-Pilchuck — Pilon 5, Klep 4, Martinis 7, Peterson 1, Beyer 0, Watson 0, Boyle 4, Enberg 11, Heckendorf 17. Stanwood — Duncan 0, Titus 0, Lucero 7, Bingham 6, Murphy 0, Borseth 7, Kelleigh 8, Swartz 3, Heckman 21. 3-point goals — Martinis 1, Lucero 1, Borseth 1, Swartz 1, Heckman 1. Records — Marysville-Pilchuck is 8-6 in league, 12-6 overall. Stanwood is 9-5, 13-6.
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