Stanwood girls knock off Snohomish to earn 3A state berth

MARYSVILLE — COVID-19 and inclement weather wreaked plenty of havoc on prep basketball schedules this season with a number of games being postponed or canceled.

One of the top matchups Snohomish County didn’t get to see during the regular season was a Wesco 3A/2A showdown between the Stanwood and Snohomish girls basketball teams.

But on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Class 3A District 1 Tournament at Marysville Pilchuck High School, that anticipated matchup finally went down.

And when push came to shove, Stanwood’s 6-foot-4 junior Vivienne Berrett proved to be an unstoppable force against the Panthers.

Berrett poured in a game-high 27 points and the third-seeded Spartans sealed up a state and district title game berth with a 54-46 victory over second-seeded Snohomish.

“I’m just so proud of those girls. They’ve worked so hard,” Stanwood coach Alex Iverson said. “Snohomish has been one of the teams to beat here. It’s no secret that Arlington and Snohomish have been the top dogs. We were talking before the game and we just felt like, ‘Hey, no one is going to give you this. You’ve gotta go out and take it.’ And that was kind of the message for (the girls) tonight, and they went out and they took.”

Stanwood (12-3) took a timeout trailing 19-11 in the second quarter and came out of the break making a concerted effort to get Berrett touches each time it went down the court.

The standout post answered by scoring the Spartans’ next six points to start a 14-5 run capped by Ava Cook’s buzzer-beating layup that cut the Panthers’ lead to 25-24 heading into the half.

The teams went back and forth in the third quarter and ultimately ended up heading into the fourth tied at 39 after one of Berrett’s 12 made field goals. Berrett scored eight points in the third and Snohomish (14-3) standout Ella Gallatin had 11 of the Panthers’ 13.

After going scoreless through the first three quarters, Tatum Brager came up with a pair of clutch shots when she gave Stanwood a lead it would never relinquish with 3-pointers on back-to-back Spartans’ possessions for a 47-43 lead midway through the fourth.

“We knew she was going to get going,” Iverson said. “I wasn’t worried at all. She puts a lot of time in.”

Cook chipped in 11 points for Stanwood.

The Spartans will face top-seeded Arlington in the district title game 8 p.m. Saturday at Everett Community College.

Gallatin led the Panthers with 19 points and Cheyenne Rodgers, Jada Andresen and Tyler Gildersleeve-Stiles added seven points apiece.

Snohomish will face sixth-seeded Mountlake Terrace in a winner-to-state elimination game 12:45 p.m. Saturday at Everett Community College.

The Panthers kept Stanwood in check early and used a balanced scoring effort to take a 15-8 after the first.

Rodgers converted a four-point play after being fouled on a made 3-pointer early in the second to put Snohomish up 19-8, the biggest lead any team would have all night.

But the Spartans’ timeout came soon after, and Stanwood’s adjustments flipped the script from there on out.

“We’re just out there having fun, playing together and this team is buying in to me and I’m buying into them” said Iverson, noting this is his first year leading Stanwood. “I’m just super blessed to have this opportunity, and they make me look great. They really, really do.”