By Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Writer

Senior Simone Johnson's driving lay up just 48 seconds into overtime gave the South Puget Sound League 4A Mount Rainier girls the lead for good at 39-37 in a 43-39 edging of visiting Seamount 2A Evergreen in a non-league girls basketball game on Sat., Dec. 6.

In the final minutes, Evergreen turned the ball over twice before Ram athlete Kenzie Gandy converted the first of two free throws to get MR to 40 as 2:19 remained in the overtime.

"It was a team effort," said Johnson. "Everyone was aggressive on offense and defense."

Twenty five seconds later, Maria Martinez brought the Wolverines within 40-39.
Both teams scrambled briskly on the court with opportunities until Mt. Rainier's freshman point guard Madison Lommen received the inbounds to hit nothing but net on a right side 3-pointer with 21.4 seconds left.

"I was open and just shot," she said.

Lommen closed out the game with 11 points.

Forced into shooting from outside due to time constraints, the Lady Wolverines were unable to score again in game that was tightly contested throughout.
First year MR head coach Salvo Coppa had his observations.

"We applied more pressure on the ball," he said. "Patience on offense and attacking the ball with more aggression helped us."

Every pass was an adventure as Mt. Rainier led 10-8 after one quarter on a Lemmon 3-point goal.

Evergreen missed chances to clear away due to poor free throw shooting before emerging with a 16-14 halftime lead.

Martinez scored to ignite a six-point Wolverines run for the biggest lead of the game at 22-14 before a Gandy breakaway lay up capped an 8-0 third quarter surge later to narrow the Ram deficit to 23-22. Marleisha Cox scored an inside goal as Evergreen outscored Mt. Rainier on a 5-2 run including a questionable layup that was called good at the buzzer by the officials.

Wolverine Danae Austin opened the second half with a game tying field goal, but Cecilia Tafia downed a Ram 3-pointer to start an eight point charge.

Trailing 35-27, Mt. Rainier fired back with its own salvo.

Two Tafia free throws led an eight point Ram rally that was capped by a Tafia short-range shot to forge a 35-35 draw with 1:11 left in regulation.

T Lagarejos assisted to Cox for a lay up with 39 seconds showing. Just less than 12 seconds remained when Gandy turned the corner fro an open drive for two points to lock the teams into a 37-37 duel. Neither team was able to take advantage of chances and the overtime beckoned.

"Overall, I'm pleased with the energy of our girls," said Wolverine coach Natasha Hicks McCray. "Five of 21 free throws didn't help. We've got to make those. Mt. Rainier came at us in the fourth quarter. Free throws eventually went away for us. We played intense defense and played hard to the end. The girls just need to trust in what works and let the game unfold."

Jvonne Hendricks paced Evergreen with 11 points and seven rebounds. Danae Austin also notched 11. Cox added eight points and eight boards .Tafia supported the Rams with nine points.