MILL CREEK — Meadowdale didn’t have its best performance in last weekend’s 4A District 1 girls basketball championship game.
But the Mavericks still gave Lake Stevens all it could handle before losing 55-46 in the March 4 contest at Jackson High School.
Both teams already had clinched berths to this week’s Class 4A state tournament in the Tacoma Dome.
Meadowdale’s appearance in the finals was a surprise to many observers since the Mavericks were without two senior starters who were dismissed from the team last month for district athletic code violations.
“A lot of people didn’t think we’d make it this far to the championship game,” said senior center Caitlyn Rohrbach. “I’m proud of my team because we had to fight through a lot of adversity. This is just one game. We’ve got the big ones next week.”
Lake Stevens took the lead early in the second quarter and entered the fourth quarter with a 38-33 advantage.
Meadowdale cut the lead to 41-40 on a basket by Rohrbach with about three minutes left in the game. A pair of free throws by Rohrbach cut the deficit to 43-42 with 2:37 remaining.
The Vikings then closed out the game with a 12-4 run.
“We didn’t play with as much intensity as we normally play with,” Meadowdale coach Dan Taylor said. “It’s something to learn from. We’ll learn from our mistakes and we’re going to learn quickly before we head down to Tacoma.”
Rohrbach scored seven of her 15 points in the fourth quarter. Sophomore point guard Eryn Jones led the Mavericks with 16 points.
Meadowdale’s one-week layoff after its semifinal victory over Snohomish may have contributed to the somewhat lackluster effort in the championship game, Taylor said.
“But you can’t really make excuses,” he said. “It’s the district championship. You’ve got to come out and play your best game from here on out. It’s the postseason. You can’t make excuses for not giving your best effort every night.”
Jones and Rohrbach didn’t get much help from the Meadowdale bench. The two combined to score 31 of the team’s 46 points.
A notable exception was junior guard Makayla Beucherie, who scored all eight of her points in the third quarter. The sharpshooting Beucherie nailed a pair of consecutive 3-pointers to keep the Mavericks close.
“She’s a good shooter,” Taylor said. “She hits the big shots. She knows how to run our offense. She normally is a point guard, but moving her to off-guard helps us because it keeps the flow of our offense moving a lot better.”
Meadowdale had trouble at times dealing with Lake Stevens’ height advantage inside. The Vikings had a pair of 5-foot-11 and 5-10 players starting.
The Mavericks need to improve on blocking out underneath the basket.
“The battle of the boards was probably the biggest thing in the game,” Jones said. “Whoever won the battle of the boards was going to win the game. So I think we need to block out better.”
Meadowdale also has to continue to fight for rebounds.
“We can’t depend on our athleticism,” Taylor said. “We have to depend on playing fundamental basketball by blocking out.”
Meadowdale’s offensive execution also wasn’t as sharp as it has been in recent games.
The Mavericks appeared to rush some of their shots, especially in the first half, Rohrbach said.
“I think that just hurt us in the long run,” she added. “We weren’t able to dig out of that hole. We just need to execute better on offense and take our time and take it one possession at a time.”
Taylor was pleased with Meadowdale’s defensive effort against a speedy Lake Stevens team that likes to get out on the fast break.
“I thought we did a decent job of controlling their tempo because they’re a very upbeat transition team,” he said. “However, we didn’t capitalize on the opportunities. We didn’t get the rebounds on the missed buckets. When you don’t get those rebounds and they get second chance shots, you’re going to be hurting when it comes to controlling the entire game.”
This will be Meadowdale’s 11th straight trip to the state tournament and its 13th in 14 years. The Mavericks won state titles in 2000 and 2004.
Meadowdale did not place at last year’s state tournament, only the second time in school history the Mavericks did not come home with some hardware.
“It’s just all about heart down there (Tacoma Dome),” Rohrbach said. “It’s a battlefield … we can’t be scared going into any fight. We’ve just got to play together and stay together and win together hopefully.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.