BY GERARDO BOLONG

Contributing Writer

Different components can combine to produce desired results.

On Thurs., Dec. 7, the 1A Seattle Christian girls basketball team combined an explosive first half with a steadfast fourth quarter under pressure to hold off non league 2A opponent Fife 49-40 at the SC campus in SeaTac.

"We played a great first half," said Warrior head coach Jasen Baskett. "The second half was not so good, but a great team figures out a way to win."

After lighting up their lives with a torrential downpour of first half scoring, the Warriors built their lead up to 21 points with 2:49 left in the third quarter.

Leading by 45-29 going into the fourth quarter, the possible blowout turned into a grinder. Julia Seibel sat out with fouls that left Seattle Christian vulnerable with only six workable players originally available to play.

Fife's comeback was precipitated by the fatigue factor and the physicality of play being allowed.

Led by the spirited energy of Christine Willis, who made numerous steals and breakaway lay ups, the Trojans climbed within 45-40 as 45 seconds remained in regulation play in the fourth quarter.

SC had tried to continue attacking, but the shots stopped dropping and rebounds became tougher, so the girls gutted out the adversity as best they could.

A driving lay up from Ellis with 33 seconds to go and a pair of Ellis free throws 24 seconds later punctuated the win.

Fife opened the game with a full court press to lead 4-0 before Seattle Christian settled in.

Seri Anderson's quartet of wide-open 3-point goals and an Ellis 3-point bomb against the Trojan zone keyed a 19-2 Warrior surge to end the quarter.

"The zone really helped me," said Anderson who scored 14 first half points en route to 16 game points (four 3-pointers) plus nine rebounds. "I was open to line up the shots."

The Trojan guards were no match for the Warrior guards on either end of the court and SC dominated the caroms off the backboards. Working the ball inside was problematical for Fife against a rugged defensive stance.

Emma Baskett joined the 3-point celebration in the second quarter by way of a trio of 3-point swishers and an Anderson runner to enlarge the Seattle Christian lead to 30-15 by halftime.

"We all just cut and got open," said Baskett, who closed with 11 points

Signs of possible problems later surfaced. When Seibel experienced foul trouble, Ellis scored from inside and outside to help build the lead. Anna Whitten contributed a goal from outside the foul line to join Ellis in the lead building that reached 41-21 before the contest turned into a true struggle.

Baskett, Anderson, Ellis and Olivia Clark played the entire 32 minutes. Whitten played 23:46 and Seibel was on the floor for 8:14 of game time.

Ellis was in double figures at 16 and contributed four assists plus three blocked shots. Clark notched only two points, but ran down 13 rebounds and dished out six assists. Clark also stole the ball five times.

Willis was torrid for Fife in a 25-point performance that included six steals.