MILL CREEK — With all the attention that Erin Feeney and Leigh-Ann Haataja deservedly attract, Jackson sophomore Kristin Stoffel can sometimes get lost in the shuffle.
Stoffel made sure that didn’t happen Tuesday.
Stoffel, a second-team All-Wesco South selection last year, scored a game-high 18 points — 10 in the first quarter — and Jackson shut down Marysville-Pilchuck’s offensive attack early to win a non-conference girls basketball game Tuesday night at Jackson High School, 59-37.
“She’s just steady,” Jackson head coach Jeannie Thompson said of her sophomore forward. “Her fundamentals are very sound, she can go both right and left … it’s one of those things as a sophomore to have such court presence … it makes my job a lot easier.”
In a matchup of two teams tied for first place in their respective conferences — Jackson in the Wesco South, Marysville-Pilchuck in the Wesco North — Jackson took control of the bragging rights early and with authority.
After Stoffel scored the game’s first basket and converted a free throw, Feeney, a first team All-Wesco selection last year, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Timberwolves up 9-1.
Jackson’s defense went to work the rest of the way, holding Marysville-Pilchuck to 15 points in the first half, and a 32-15 lead at halftime.
Feeney, who has committed to play for Western Washington next year, finished with 11 points and three 3-pointers, and Chanel Sam and Shalena Guzman each finished with 10 points for Jackson.
“We came out really intense and put a lot of (pressure) on them,”
Stoffel said of her team, “and it helped a lot with scoring.”
Marysville-Pilchuck was led by senior Alisha Oden and junior guard Morgan Martinis (two 3-pointers), each of whom scored eight points.
The loss snapped a six-game winning streak for Marysville-Pilchuck, which turned in a solid defensive performance, but which struggled to convert on the offensive end. The Tomahawks turned up the defensive intensity in the second half to get some easy baskets, but had difficulty scoring once Jackson’s defense was set up.
“They’re a really good transition team,” Thompson said of Marysville-Pilchuck. “That was one of the goals, to slow them down and make it a half-court set.”
Despite the loss, it’s been a pretty impressive season so far for Marysville-Pilchuck. Picked to finish seventh in the Wesco North in The Herald’s preseason coaches poll, the Tomahawks have yet to lose a conference game this year, and are 5-0 in league.
M-P head coach Julie Martin said that this year her team moved away from a post-focused offense to a more balanced attack. Big numbers might be harder for a person to accumulate in this system — M-P’s leading scorer Martinis went into Tuesday’s contest averaging 12 points per game — but Martin says the team has responded well.
“We have a group of girls that don’t care who gets the credit,” Martin said of the distributed scoring.
Jackson, which didn’t graduate a single player from its 4A state team last year, and returned three all-Wesco first or second team selections, improved to 6-1 overall.
“(Coming off of the long break) I think for the first game back we did good,” Stoffel said. “… We didn’t (get slowed) by M-P’s (strong) defense.”
At Jackson H.S.
Marysville-Pilchuck871111—37
Jackson19131314—59
M-P— Oden 8, Lentz 3, Martinis 8, Adams 4, Beyer 0, Watson 3, Heckendorf 6, Enberg 5. Jackson— Gjertsen 4, Coacher 0, Sam 11, Me.
McArthur 0, Johnson 0, Bylsma 0, Guzman 10, King 0, Stoffel 18, Haataja 6.
3-pointers— Feeney 3, Martinis 2, Lentz 1, Guzman 2.
Records— M-P 5-0, 6-2 overall. Jackson 4-1, 6-1
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
