BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

Kennedy Catholic used stick-to-itiveness and a trio of double figures scorers in holding off Renton in a tough 56-49 Seamount League home girls basketball victory on Wed., Jan. 21., in Burien. This win pushed the first place Lady Lancers (10-0) into a two-game strangle hold over Renton and Evergreen (White Center) who share second place records of 8-2 with four league games remaining.

"There was no quit in them," said KC head coach Greg Caldwell. "Collectively our defense was tough tonight. We wanted to press them and not give up anything easy. They were resilient that way and everybody helped each other."

With their spacing over the Indians only 40-37 just 49 seconds into the fourth quarter, Kennedy Catholic fought off Renton's persistent challenges.

Co-captain Nikki Miller, whose outside shooting presence was formidable, then fired home a corner 3-pointer, but Shelby Proctor answered on two consecutive inside baskets to bring Renton within 43-41.
At this point, Anna Tegelberg scored an inside basket for the Lancers on a nice pass from Ariell Garnett followed by Garnett's breakaway lay up. Nataijia McMillan scored from close-in for the Indians to make the score 47-43 as the last echo of closeness for Renton occurred with just less than three minutes left.
As a continuing preamble to victory, Kennedy co-captain Kelsey Abrejera stepped into the picture to begin the closing credits by way of back to back 3-point goals that extended the Kennedy margin to 53-43 -tied for the biggest lead of the game with 2:15 showing.

The Indians still refused to fold up their tents and closed within 53-47. But with 46 seconds remaining, Miller completed a five-star 3-point performance with another corner trey to render the final death blow to any further Indian uprisings.

"I was having shooting problems until halfway through the season," said Miller who owned the corner for four 3-pointers en route to 16 game points. "Coach told me to keep on shooting until I could come out of it. Tonight, the defense inspired the offense. We'd make one and the defense made a play. Then, we'd make another ahead of another defensive play. The defense made the offense better."

Kennedy Catholic pressured the ball from the outset, keeping Renton from using its inside size advantage to its utmost. Although the Lancers formed leads of up to seven points in the first half, the Indians kept coming back while trailing only 24-22 at the half.

During a nearly four minute stretch in the last half of the third quarter, Kennedy Catholic increased its control to seven points, but McMillan worked into four consecutive points as the Indians trailed 33-30 as just less than three minutes remained in the third quarter.

Junior Lancer guard Ashley Cusack, who is a tough defender, ran for a rebound and popped home a layup ahead of Cabrejera's two free throws, her own steal and a Garnett three for a 40-30 KC mastery. Betty Alem narrowed the margin for Renton with an end of quarter layup.

Heavenly Williams hit a miracle running bank shot and a 3-point goal to open the fourth quarter for the Indians before the Lancers took the win to the house.

Garnett ran and slithered to a game high 18 points while dishing out half a dozen Lancer assists. Abrejera completed the KC troika of scorers on 16 points and added five assists. Jasmine Moore scored only two points, but hauled in nine rebounds.