By Paul Moseley

The West Seattle Wildcats proved they belong among the best teams in the State tonight.

The 13-8 Wildcats (10-5 conference) took on the 17-4 (13-3) Holy Names Cougars in a Metro Conference tournament game at Holy Names. The Cougars, ranked 6th in the Seattle Times state-wide 3A list, were coming off a 72-53 loss to Metro-Mountain regular season champs Bishop Blanchet. Both Holy Names and West Seattle needed this win to get a higher seed in the upcoming district championships.

The game was physical from the opening tip. West Seattle struck first, jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Having little luck inside the paint with West Seattle star Lydia Giomi guarding the middle, Holy Names went for the long shots early and found a lot of metal as their shots couldn't find the net. Both teams settled down a bit and Holy Names pulled within 2 at the end of the first quarter, with West Seattle up 12-10.

The Cougars came out aggressively in the second quarter and pulled ahead 13-12. The Wildcats regrouped, retook the lead and, with great court management by West Seattle point guard Charli Elliott, West Seattle went into half-time ahead by 5 24-19.

The third quarter intensity only increased as Holy Names put on the press, and the play was punctuated by blocked shots, jump balls and hurried shots bouncing off the rim. Holy Names got the early edge in the quarter, going on 9-4 run to tie it at 28. West Seattle battled back and took a slim lead, going into the fourth qtr up by only 1 33-32.

Going into the final quarter, both teams acted like they wanted to win this game, and the game remained an aggressive defensive battle with both teams having to work for every dribble inside the paint. West Seattle went up by 3, then after a few back-and-forths when neither team could get a shot to drop, Holy Names sunk a beautiful 3-pointer to tie it at 35. Tied again at 37, West Seattle's Lexi Ione sank a clutch 3 pointer putting the Wildcats up 40-37 with just under 2 minutes remaining.

Both teams went all out in the 2 minute drill, and Holy Names attempted three 3-pointers, all of them bouncing off the rim. They drained a 2-pointer but that was not enough to catch up and West Seattle went home with the win 40-39.

Top scorers for the Wildcats were Lydia Giomi with 15 and Charli Elliott with 10.
Tayah Carlisle had 8 for the Cougars