By Dave Laudan
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Seattle Christian girls’ basketball team made it to the State Tournament in Yakima for the first time since 2011. The team’s goal all season long was to play in the Yakima Valley Sundome.
Last season the Warrior lost at regional play in game for the state tournament in overtime. This year they made it to the Dome. The Warriors played on Wednesday evening at the SunDome in a loser-out game against Lakeside (9 Mile Falls) located northwest of Spokane.
The game started out well for the Warriors. A few minutes into the game, SC took a 7-4 lead on an Olivia Clark 3 ball.
Things seemingly looked good for them. As the first period played out, though, Lakeside, with the help of their 6-foot, 2-inch post player, Hallie Jensen, held an 18-11 lead after one.
The second period proved to be no better for the Warriors. They tried different looks and player combinations but could not drive the lane with Jensen providing tough inside defense. With the inside game shut down, the Warriors tried to get open 3-point looks but this too did not work against a very tough Eagle defense. At the half the score was Eagles 31, Warriors 23. Still close enough that a comeback was within reach.
In the second half, the Eagles continued to dominate the game, leading after three periods, 46-34.
Down by 12 with one period to go the Warriors needed to dominate the fourth quarter.
The fourth started out well enough as Madisen Fors hit a jumper inside the key to trim the deficit to 10. Any hope of a comeback was quickly gone, however, as Lakeside rattled off 13 straight points to take a commanding 59-36 lead. There was no quit from the Warriors, but there was also no time to put together a run. By the time the final whistle sounded, the Eagles of Lakeside had extended their season thanks to a dominating 20-point victory. The final score was the Lakeside Eagles 63, the Seattle Christian Warriors 43.
Lakeside won the game by playing a smothering defense that left the Warriors with few open shots. Additionally, Lakeside dominated the boards, outrebounding the Warriors 39-20.
The Lakeside Eagles were led in scoring by their post player, Hallie Jensen, who finished the game with 22 points, most of which were from inside the paint. Two other players scored in double figures. Sienna Swannack had 14 and Kendra Gay had 10. Maiya Martinez had seven followed by Rylee Thomas with six and Joy Mahowald with four.
The Warriors had three players in double figures, led by Olivia Clark’s 13, followed by Alex Ellis with 12 and Seri Anderson with 10. Julia Seibel had six points and Madisen Fors rounded out the scoring with two points. Emma Baskett and Anna Whitten played but did not score.
The Warriors could not run their offense and were over matched by the Eagles' offense. In the end Hallie Jensen provided the offense and defense necessary to guide the Eagles to victory.
After beating the Warriors, the Lakeside Eagles lost to Lynden Christian in the quarterfinals on Thursday 53-30. They then played La Center on Friday and won 49-27. On Saturday they played Zillah for fourth and sixth place.
Lakeside beat Zillah 50-36 to finish fourth overall. The Lakeside Eagles, who entered the tournament ranked No. 7, ended up finishing in fourth place. After looking at how Lakeside did after defeating the Warriors it appears that the Eagles were a much better team than was anticipated.
