MOUNTLAKE TERRACE
After a one year absence, the King’s girls basketball team is headed back to the 1A state championships.
The Knights dominated the Chimacum Cowboys 54-18 in a 1A Tri-District loser out, winner to state game Saturday, Feb . 28 at Mountlake Terrace High School.
“This is a really big accomplishment, especially since we had such a tough year last year,” King’s senior guard Kelli Cutright said. “It was a lot easier than we expected, but we always prepare for the best and try our hardest.”
King’s (11-14) will play Zillah (19-4) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4 in the first round of the 1A state tournament March 4-7 at the Yakima SunDome.
The Cowboys (14-9), playing without key members of the varsity squad, were never in the game.
King’s jumped out to a 9-0 lead four minutes into the contest and never looked back en route to a 15-4 advantage after one quarter.
It took Chimacum more than 21 minutes (of the game’s 32 total) to reach double-
digits, and faced a 33-10 deficit with 2:45 left in the third-quarter.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well, they played really good defense and they knew who our hot shooter was to put pressure on her,” Cowboys coach Jim Eldridge said.
Chimacum’s leading scorer, senior 5-foot-5 forward Jaime Friedrich entered the contest averaging 11.2 points per game, and was held to five against King’s.
With an 11-point lead heading into the second quarter, King’s was outscored 4-1 in the first four minutes of play.
But the Knights headed into the locker room on a 6-0 run behind the five points of Cutright.
King’s picked up where they left off in the first half, extending their offensive success and defensive pressure into a 19-2 run to begin the final frame up 35-10.
“They played with intensity and even with a big lead they were aggressive and stuck to the game plan,” King’s coach Tressa Berg said.
“This is a nice feeling and I am very proud of the girls. Joclyn (Kirton) had 13 points and three rebounds and her older sister Dionna had 11 points and nine rebounds, but overall it was a good team effort. I had the ability to play all of the girls.”
Leading by 25 entering the final frame, King’s outscored the Cowboys 19-8 before chants of “On to state” rang out from behind the Knights’ bench.
“Our goal was to make it to state, so we can cross one more thing off our to-do list,” Berg said of her squad.
State tournament opponents may want to prepare well for King’s as the Knights appear to be peaking at the right time.
Cutright, one of three seniors on the roster, said her and her teammates plan to leave it all on the court in Yakima.
“Our goal is to play the best we can, and if it results in a loss then at least we know we’ve done our best. If we win, then life will be a little bit better. I don’t think we have any major expectations, but we are finally playing as a team,” she said.
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