Meadowdale rips T-birds

SHORELINE

The Meadowdale girls basketball team crashed Shorewood’s senior night Feb. 8 with a merciless 82-32 victory to cap a perfect regular season.

“I knew it was possible,” said senior Marelle Moehrle of the Mavericks’ 20-0 regular season. “Everybody on the team worked hard to get where we are. It came with a good work ethic and discipline.”

Meadowdale, ranked No. 1 in the WashingtonPreps.com Class 3A poll, finished the season 16-0 in the Western Conference South Division. The Mavericks played Everett Feb. 15 in a seeding game after Enterprise deadlines. If Meadowdale earns the No. 1 seed from the Wesco to districts, it would host a first-round 3A District 1 playoff game at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20.

Shorewood, the No. 4 seed from the Wesco South to the 4A District 1 playoffs, played Monroe the top seed from the Wesco North Feb. 14. Win or lose, the Thunderbirds are slated to play Feb. 17 at Marysville-Pilchuck against either Kamiak or Snohomish.

The first time Meadowdale played Shorewood, the Thunderbirds hung close in the first half before the Mavericks pulled away to win by 19.

This time Meadowdale blew out Shorewood in a game that never was close.

The Mavericks started the game on a 15-2 run, sparked by eight straight points by Moehrle. Meadowdale started the second quarter on a 15-0 run and the third quarter on a 17-0 run. Only in the fourth quarter with the Meadowdale bench in for most of the quarter could Shorewood keep pace.

Moerhle scored a game-high 28 points in only 16 minutes of playing time. She had 22 at the half and hit five 3-pointers. Meadowdale knocked down 12 3-pointers as a team, a number head coach Dan Taylor said was a season high.

Gabi Beyer scored 11 points while Eryn Jones and Hanna Fjortoft each added 10 for a balanced offensive attack.

“They run the floor, they play off each other really well,” Shorewood coach Jeff Bernhardt said. “As a basketball fan if I wasn’t on the other end of it, it would have been fun to watch.”

Jane Fleck and Becky Farden each scored 14 points to lead Shorewood.

The T-birds need a third scorer to step up, Bernhardt said. Several times junior forward Tiffanie Bronson, has taken on that role. Bernhardt said the T-birds need 30 to 35 points from Fleck and Farden, and at least 15 from the rest of the team to stay with teams.

As for the Mavericks, the quest for a 3A state title begins. Meadowdale finished eighth last year at state.

“Our record is 0-0 now,” Taylor said. “We have to come out fresh like we’ve started all over.”

The Mavericks are focused on the district playoffs, but they also have their eye on teams they could play at state. The team has seen Auburn-Riverside, Skyline, Seattle Prep, Lakeside as well as Chief Sealth. Sealth, the two-time defending state 3A champions, which was stripped of its titles because of recruiting violations.

“I really want to play them,” Moehrle said of Sealth. “I hope we get to play.”

Meadowdale and Sealth both beat a common opponent, Bainbridge, this season, but the Mavericks won by seven while Sealth won by 29.

Meadowdale only has one player, Anna Molitor, who is 6-feet tall, while Sealth has 6-3 Regina Rogers and 6-4 Christina Nzekwe, who are both headed to UCLA next year.

“We need to continue to work on our rebounding because of our size,” Taylor said.