TACOMA — Despite a 12-4 lead to start Thursday morning’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 19 Garfield, the No. 4-seeded Stanwood girls basketball team would fall 52-30 after a turnover-laden game.
The loss sends the Spartans, who are playing in their first state action since 2023, to the consolation bracket. They will have a chance to take home fourth place in the tournament with two more wins.
Still, there were plenty of opportunities to stay in title contention against Garfield.
Junior star Ellalee Wortham (16 points, five rebounds) got going early, drawing fouls and hitting a turnaround shot close to the rim to help push the Spartans to that early advantage. With junior Presley Harris (six points) burying her first 3-pointer, Stanwood looked like they had their groove six days after winning their first state game against Seattle Prep.
That’s when the Bulldogs turned up their ball pressure as two-way stars Jayda Lewis (18 points, seven steals) and Lena Most (12 points, four steals) led the way defensively. When the Spartans turned to the pick-and-roll to get back on track, Garfield waited in passing lanes to force turnovers by air.
Stanwood skipper Dustin Swanson was well aware of the Bulldogs’ tendency to crush their opponents’ momentum with physicality and active hands going into the game.
“It was just a tough matchup, and Garfield played well,” Swanson said. “They extended a little bit and took us out of our ability to get into what we wanted to do, and then we weren’t able to start our offense… Once they got a lead, it was hard to play against a team like that.”
Trailing by 11 at the half, the Spartans emphasized getting to the rim to draw fouls and slow the game down in the locker room. Seeing as Wortham drew four fouls in the first half, halting the Bulldogs’ momentum with long trips to the charity stripe seemed feasible.
But Garfield seemed to pick up on this, fouling Wortham only once the rest of the way. Without a way to slow down the Bulldogs’ aggressive defense, the turnovers continued to pour in. Paired with an eight-point burst from Garfield’s Mariah Roy, the Spartans found themselves in a 19-point hole heading into the final period — they scored just 11 in the second and third quarters combined.
“(Garfield) played a strong game,” Wortham said. “They definitely play scrappy, they’re up, they’re talking.”
That lead would hold in the fourth, as the Spartans would go down for just the fifth time in 26 games. Swanson coached this squad to a fourth-place finish two seasons ago, and despite a tough loss that put a pin in their title hopes, he has confidence in his team to put it behind them.
“This one will sting for a minute, and then we’ll reset. We’ll watch this game and we’ll come up with a plan,” Swanson said.
Wortham, a freshman on the fourth-place 2023 team, still has her eyes on placing in Tacoma.
“We still have a chance to go out and do something good for our program. We just need to play with calmness,” Wortham said.
The Spartans will be back in action against No. 7 Kennewick tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
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