FEDERAL WAY - The EX-3 Ron Sandwith Teen Center provided the locale for a toughly fought Evergreen Lutheran girls SeaTac 1B League basketball loss against home team Christian Faith on Friday, Dec. 14, in the opening half of a girls-boys doubleheader.
Evergreen Lutheran dropped to 0-3 in league and 1-4 overall after its second straight close loss. The Des Moines situated Eagles dropped a home 46-44 verdict to Muckleshoot Tribal on Dec. 11.
"Compared to every other game we played, we took better care of the ball tonight," said EL head coach Nick Trebesch. "We goot good, clean looks, but just had a low shooting percentage. I thought we controlled the glass and limited them to one shot at the basket most of the time. Our press created many opportunities."
Opportunity knocked often and surfaced regularly.
Trailing only 29-27 after Sarah Lee's bank shot with 3:32 left in regulation game time, Evergreen Lutheran forged numerous opportunities to tie or go ahead, but could not convert for a myriad of reasons.
Alana Jennings scored a basket for CF on a runner that was matched by a Karissa Kjenstad bank shot as EL trailed 31-29 at the 3:32 mark of the fourth quarter.
Following a Christian Faith free throw conversion, the Lutheran congregation was unable to make two free throws and trailed 32-29 with 2:26 remaining. Jennings banked home a basket that Emily Holder countered from the base line, but EL missed inside shots kept Evergreen Lutheran from making any further headway despite a dynamite defensive presence that filtered throughout the dimensions of the court.
"My entire point of the game would be to steal the ball," said Sarah Lee who continually harassed ball handlers for numerous steals and turnovers to go along with 13 points. "I'm the fastest person on the team and the coaches want me to stay with my opponent and try for steals."
Turnovers won the first quarter in an 8-4 CF lead. Karissa Kjenstad joined Lee to bring EL back into a 10-10 standoff in the second quarter before Christian Faith emerged with a 15-13 margin going into intermission.
Hard work by Lee, and Amelia Menges catapulted EL into a 19-17 lead before Hayley Tymony triggered a three-pointer for a 20-19 CF lead.
As the Evergreen Lutheran defenders trapped and shadowed Christian Faith ball handlers tightly, Kjenstad scored an inside basket off an inbounds play while Morgan Smith notched an outside shot for a 23-19 EL lead. Christian faith came back to create a 23-23 halftime deadlock, leading into the fateful fourth quarter.
"We had lots of opportunities," said Kjenstad, who scored eight points while working strongly inside. "Our shots were hurried, but we kept in the game on good defense."
Jennings paced Christian Faith with 16 points and Alan Christy added 11.
