BY GERARDO BOLONG
Contributing Writer

BELLEVUE - Round two of this season's Seattle Christian-Bellevue Christian girls basketball series went down to the wire again.

In a previous Nisqually League 1A match up, the Warriors came back from a 16-point first quarter deficit only lose a verdict by two points.

This gut busting thriller again came down to the final seconds, although the game was played in tight quarters throughout.

With five seconds remaining, Madelyn Weber who had spearheaded the Warrior efforts with 12 points, 12 rebounds, five blocked shots and two steals, was fouled and went to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity.

The first shot looked like it was going down, but spun around the inside of the hoop before bouncing out to the relief of Bellevue Christian players and fans who witnessed a 32-31 Viking win on Tues., Feb. 10, and the accompanying reward of hosting a first round district game.

Bellevue Christian (5-3 league, 14-6 overall) faces Chimacum at 7 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 13, as the league's No. 2 seed Seattle Christian (4-4, 14-5) travels to Klahowya for a 6 p.m. tip off as the No. 3 Nisqually seed. The winners move on to Feb. 16 games at Sumner High School.

"I have no complaints," said Warrior head coach Dave Jansen. "We executed down the stretch. Bellevue is a great team and that's just playoff basketball. They put a lot of pressure on (top outside shooter) Alex (Ellis). Our girls gave everything they had."

Hitting the Viking home court like a hurricane, the fighting Warriors grabbed an 11-5 lead after one quarter by smartly moving the ball around, playing tight zone defense and boxing out on rebounds. and still had a six-point margin at 14-8 before Bellevue Christian reversed the trend with defense of their own to lead Seattle Christian into quickly forcing up shots unnecessarily to briefly lead at 15-14 before engaging in an 18-18 and a 20-18 halftime advantage.

Trading leads of no more than five points, the teams fought fiercely for positioning until Abby Louie tied the game at 27-27 on a 3-point SC missile with 35.3 seconds left in the third quarter, but BC edged ahead by 29-27 into the fourth quarter that was dominated by ferocious defense and tension packed moments.
Becca Jewett extended the Viking margin to 31-27 on a fourth quarter opening baseline drive basket, but Louie was good for a 3-pointer to notch the teams at 31-31 with 5:52 remaining in regulation time.
More than four minutes of trials and tribulations ensued before Rachel Berg converted the first of two free throw chances to move the Vikings into a precarious 32-31 lead as 1:10 showed on the scoreboard clock.
As the time dwindled away, so did the Seattle Christian chances to grab the lead until the Warriors were forced to keep fouling until they reached the penalty situations that forced Bellevue Christian to the charity stripe.

With 15.3 seconds left, the Vikes' Sperry McQuaid missed the first of a one-and-one. Kelli Ronish emerged from the pack with ball and SC called time out with 8.7 seconds left.

With the people in attendance flooding the gym with reverberating cheers and exhortations, Weber was fouled for the deciding free throw situation.

Berg led Bellevue Christian at 14 points.