Article courtesy of Gerardo Bolong

Visiting Charles Wright Academy took advantage of a slow start by Seattle Christian and never trailed in a 50-37 Nisqually 1A girls basketball win in SeaTac on Warriors Homecoming night, Fri., Jan. 15.

Seattle Christian fell to 2-1 league and 7-3 overall while CWA improved to 2-1 and 9-3 respectively.

Leading only 26-22 after an SC driving lay up by Alex Ellis early in the second half CWA reclaimed tactical advantage of the glass to pull away for 35-28 lead going into the fourth quarter and just kept the heat on to fire away into double digits en route to the game-high final margin.

At key moments, the Tarriers capitalized on Warrior lapses to just get to the ball faster on both ends of the court.

"We've been running a new set of offenses and it was frustrating," said Seattle Christian head coach Dave Jansen about his team's inability to focus well on either end of the court. "They had two scorers we didn't defend well against while we weren't able to run the court often. We were standing and they (the Tarriers) went to the ball."

Charles Wright controlled the boards and stifled the SC offense and rolled to an 11-1 first quarter lead behind the offense of Shoni Pritchett. The Warriors often had problems getting the ball into position quickly enough to have sufficient time to execute its half court offense. On the other hand, Charles Wright often had Pritchett wide open to shoot.

"We weren't mentally focused," said Makenzie May who finished with eight rebounds and two points.
Abby Louie drained a pair of 3-pointers around a Pritchett trey to get the Warriors into a more workable situation at 14-7 by the end of the quarter.

The Lady Warriors tightened up their defense and allowed less access to the basket by their opponents while also becoming more competitive off the glass and gradually ate into the Tarrier advantage, drawing within two points on three occasions, the last on a Serianna Anderson driving basket down the middle that had SC within 19-17 with just 88 seconds remaining until halftime. May hustled to the boards for SC as part of the rally. Lexi Bates also contributed strongly.

Pritchett scored the last five points of the half to elevate the Tarriers back to a seven point, 24-17 lead at the intermission before CWA took control in the third quarter.

When the call for 'Warriors Assemble' went out early in non league part of the season, SC was taxed to the limit for fielding a full complement of players with players getting injured and not enough attendees to supply a junior varsity squad, but still managed to go 5-2 before league play ensued. Returning guard Kelli Ronish separated her right shoulder during volleyball season and is lost for the season. Center Naomi Knipp has been out and returned for this game. During her absence, six-foot sophomore Julia Seibel was pressed into service and has been developing strongly as she gains more court time and experience.

Commenting his team's work in progress, Jansen was optimistic.

"The girls want to work," he conclude. "We just have to show them where more hustling is needed. We had some good looks at the basket. Maybe the game would have been closer."

Alexis Ellis led SC with 10 points. Louie earned nine points and freshman Anderson nailed two three-point goals as part of her eight-point total.

Pritchett was true dynamite for Charles Wright, scoring 27 points while garnering 11 rebounds. Majestic Moler drove her way for 11 points and 10 caroms. Seibel scored three points but also grabbed seven rebounds for SC.