King’s cuts nets again
Published 10:13 am Monday, March 3, 2008
King’s coach Eric Rasmussen fully anticipated an all-out “dogfight” for the Northwest District 2A girls basketball crown.
It was more of a rift than a rumble.
The second-ranked Knights flattened Mount Baker 70-45 in the March 4 title game at Mount Vernon High School for their 15th consecutive win.
In its first season away from the 1A classification, King’s extended its streak of league and district championships to six.
“It was pretty gratifying to go up there and have that kind of success,” Rasmussen said. “We’ve never won a district title up there. That was nice.”
The Knights took a No. 1 seed and a 22-1 record into this week’s Class 2A state tournament in Yakima. Games started Wednesday and run through Saturday.
Mount Baker was the latest casualty of King’s stifling defense. The Knights rattled off the final 14 points of the first quarter and went on to boost its lead with 11-3 and 8-0 runs.
King’s created the majority of its baskets either in transition or by crashing the boards.
“We had a lot of second-effort points. We’d tip, tip, tip, get a rebound and lay it back in,” Rasmussen said.
“We have a pretty good shooting team and we didn’t necessarily shoot that well from the perimeter. But we made up for it with our defense and our rebounding.”
Junior point guard Sara Mosiman led four Knights in double figures with 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
Hayley Zevenbergen added 11 points and 10 boards, Danielle Clauson had 12 points and Caitlyn Faidley had 11 for the Knights, who defeated their three district opponents by an average of 25 points.
The Mountaineers owned their largest lead early in the game at 9-5. Going into the fourth quarter, King’s was in charge 52-30.
“They’re an athletic team,” Clauson said. “We wanted to get them tired so we put the press on them right away. We tried to get them frustrated and it worked. We were able to pull ahead.”
Lopsided results have been the norm for the Knights, who are outscoring teams by an average of 30 points per game, up from 23 a year ago when King’s went 23-5 and placed fourth at the 1A state tournament.
The Knights are making their 12th straight state appearance — including seven top-four finishes the past eight years — and haven’t lost since Dec. 28 at a holiday tournament in San Diego.
Joining King’s in the lower half of the state draw are top-ranked East Valley of Yakima, district champions Woodland and Eatonville and Whatcom County League champion Lynden Christian.
Defending state champion Chelan and third-ranked Connell loom in the top half of the bracket.
Four starters from last year’s state team are back for King’s. Mosiman earned first-team, all-tournament honors at state as a sophomore and is averaging 20.5 points per game this season.
“She’s about us being successful, not her being successful,” Rasmussen said. “It’s hard to focus on just her because several kids could go off for 10 or 12.”
Defenses regularly key on the Cascade Conference most valuable player. If it happens at state, the Knights will be ready.
“A lot of teams go and double-team Sara,” Clauson said. “She’s a great passer, so if she gets in trouble she passes it off to us and we have girls who can step up.”
