By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AUBURN - Thomas Jefferson scored three consecutive points and forced missed shots in the late stages of the fourth quarter to beat visiting Mt. Rainier 46-41 in girls basketball action Fri., Dec. 12.
"It was the difference in the level of intensity that we played," said Ram head coach Salvo Coppa. "For the first quarter and a half we had good intensity. Then, me made elementary mistakes and lost our high intensity until the fourth quarter."

The Raiders, who had a 14-point advantage in the first 25 seconds of the fourth quarter, fell victim to increased Ram energy that brought Mt. Rainier within 43-39 after Madison Lommen's half court steal and bucket followed by Cecilia Tafia's assist to Mulki Nur with 1:31 remaining in regulation action. Katie Hernandez sank a free throw before MR missed a close in shot and Michaela Swiney dropped home two free throws with 34.2 seconds left for the breathing room that made two free Ram free throws from Nur 20 seconds later non critical to the Raiders.

After half court offenses dominated the first quarter, the Raiders overcame an 8-6 deficit to claim a 14-6 lead after one quarter. Thomas Jefferson kept the pressure on to build margins of nine points twice ahead of MR baskets from Madison Lommer and Ami Noshino. Leading only 21-16, the Raiders claimed a halftime lead of 29-16 on a pair of Katie Hernandez 3-pointers sandwiched around two free throws by Bailey Nelson.

In a dreary third quarter, the teams hobbled to a 4-4 draw following 4 of 19 free throw shooting, but the doubled digit lead established by TJ remained until MR energy under duress began to fluster the Raiders. Full-court pressing and aggressive, running offense led the Mt. Rainier comeback from near oblivion.
Noshino scored three consecutive baskets inside the paint brought the Rams within 41-33 with three minutes to go in the fourth quarter. One minute later, Erin Davidson popped home a jump shot from just inside the key to bring Mt. Rainier two points closer.

With Jefferson unable to capitalize completely on free throw chances, Mt. Rainier was still within 43-35 despite nearly getting blown away much of the game.

Katie Hernandez paced Jefferson with a game high 25 points while Madison Still was close behind with 12. Six-foot freshman power forward/center led Mt. Rainier at an even dozen points.