by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

What a feeling! Being's believing!

Sounds like one might think they're hearing lyrics from a 1983 hit song by Irene Cara, from the movie, 'Flashdance,' and, they are, but they're also hearing characterizing words from West Seattle coach, Sonja Elliott, whose Wildcats' girls basketball team did a dance by the 3A, defending, state champ, Cleveland Eagles, 42-36 in a Metro League game Wednesday.

"We just beat the state champs," said Elliott, in her fifth season with the Wildcats. "That's a good feeling."
The high, state-ranked Wildcats got it going on so far this season, improving to 11-2, overall, and, they stay 1-0 in the 'Sound' division of the Metro because the Eagles are in the 'Valley' division. The Eagles drop to 6-2, overall, staying 1-0 in their division.

So, yeah, big win. Close, all game long. Big shot at the end by the Wildcats' junior, point guard, Gabbi Sarver, really, was huge, in this huge win that keeps the Wildcats no worse than the No. 5 ranking they held from The Seattle Times' Washington AP sportswriters poll coming into the game against the Eagles
Game was looking like it could become a loss late, as, after the Wildcats' Lydia Giomi hit a big shot inside, having rebounded a put-back after a first Wildcats' shooter missed inside, the score was, 36-29, Wildcats, with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter. The Eagles, however, scored points quickly after that. First was a lay-up inside, and, next, on it's following possession, the Eagles hit a three-ball that cut the score to 36-34 with 4:30 left in the fourth.

Then, the Wildcats' Sarver drove to the lane on her team's next possession and missed the shot inside the paint. The Eagles, then, turned the ball over and the Wildcats followed suit. And, then, a missed shot from the Wildcats' and the Eagles on consecutive next possessions set up the next play. Sarver, again, had the ball, and, this time, she would not miss. This time, she would shoot from way out, just in front of the three-point arc, the ball sailing toward the hoop, and, in, 38-34, Wildcats, with two minutes left in the game.
Was Sarver nervous on that one?

"Yes, I was nervous," she laughed. 'But, I just had to follow through."

Coach Elliott liked that Sarver shot, that, for all intensive purposes, really, was the back-breaker for the Eagles, in this one, because it gave the Wildcats' a four-point cushion late in the game, putting all the pressure on the Eagles to, again, do something. And, Elliott was just glad Sarver did that long shot 'something' in the situation that presented her floor leader.

"She can knock those down" said Elliott. "There was time on the clock but when she has an open shot like that, she should take it. Just glad she took that shot."

From there, the Eagles got fouled and made 1-for-2 from the line, with 1:30 left, cutting the Wildcats' lead to 38-35. And, then, after a Wildcats' shot from the baseline hit the backboard and went straight down and Giomi saved the ball but to an Eagle's player,they went down court, were fouled, and, made 1-for-2 from the line, making it, 38-36, Wildcats.

The Wildcats would respond to that challenge to their lead, as, their 6-6 center, Giomi, a strong volleyball player, too, would use her height and skills inside to get a rebound and score in the paint, so, 40-36, Wildcats,' another huge play there.

"Going to Oregon, Lydia Giomi," said Kevin Cuddy, walking by, after the game, a fan, but also a golfer for the Wildcats during that sport's season. "Guaranteed 'W,'" Cuddy, also, said, after the game, referring to Emily Fiso, the team's second leading scorer on the team, behind Giomi.

Fiso laughed, too, as did, Giomi, don't tell Cuddy this, but, after he left, giving an accolade to Fiso, she, also, said, 'He's silly.'

Fiso had seven points in this game, and, she did make a big three-point shot that 'set the tone' for her team, early, and, she was right, as, that three gave her team a 7-2 lead halfway through the first quarter. And, might not seem like much to a casual fan, but, that five point spread put pressure on the opposing team, in this case, the Eagles, to respond, and, realize this game's intensity is being set early.

So, back to the ending, that's pretty much it, the Eagles took a timeout with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, got a play set up outside for their Joyce Harrell to take a three-point shot, she got it off with in-the-face pressure from the likes of Sarver, Ioane, Charli Elliot, who played tough defense all game along with others like Fiso, who grabbed a lot of boards in this game along with Giomi, playing inside.

Then, Ioane was fouled at the other end and made 2-for-2 at the line, putting this one, pretty much, out of reach, 42-36, with 10 seconds left in the game.

"It was fun," said Sarver, adding, "the biggest crowd we've had at a girls game."

That made sense, a lot of people, and the front parking lot was completely filled up. And, a lot of cars on all curbs surrounding the school as well. Cleveland fans came en force, too, on their side of the bleachers.
But, speaking of the beginning of the game, the game was in the Wildcats' favor, only tied, 2-2, the Wildcats led the rest of the game.

The Wildcats led 14-8 after the first quarter, 22-14 after the second, and, 30-27, after the third. Just a nice solid effort against a worthy Eagles' foe, from a Wildcats' team that is liking and loving what's going on and explains a lot of that success, too.

"I'm so proud of the team," said Giomi, who scored a game-high 16 points, including seven points in the first quarter and five in the fourth to be clutch. She was, also, in her team's face during, at least, one timeout, telling them to get going when the Eagles were coming back there in the above-explained fourth quarter.

"Oh, yeah, I remember what she said in the huddle," said Fiso, a captain on the team along with Annalisa Ursino and Charli Elliott. "She said, 'It's ours. Right now.'"

That was about the time Cleveland had just scored that three-pointer, making it a two-point game about halfway through the fourth quarter, and, Elliott called another timeout.

Elliott called a lot of timeouts in this game, two in the first quarter, even, as her team was leading throughout it, but just was getting them in rhythm. But, when it was 24-18 with 5:50 left in the second quarter and it became 26-25 was about the time she called one of those timeouts. She just smiled, even though, the girls might have been with anxiety at this Eagles team that was relentlessly coming at their every score they made against the foe.

And, she called another not too long after that, trying to get her girls to see what was needed done, that this Cleveland team was not going to quit coming at them, and, Coach Elliott kept smiling, cooly, the whole time she spoke in timeouts.

"Sonya is the nicest coach," said Sarver. "She will yell but she does it in a sweet way. She believes in us. She calms us down when we get a little rattled."

This team is doing the right things, now, winning big games, first in the Metro League 'Sound' and that could be attributed to what this team's done with each other, before the season even began.
"This is a special group of kids," said Elliott. "The kids, actually, are really good friends, they believe in each other. These kids contacted each other before the season started, coordinated working out with each other. I've never had that in a team before I've coach here. They really enjoy one another."
That they do, that is, find each other's company fun.

"We are best friends on the court, and, off," said Giomi. "We all talk in school, plan to go out to breakfast together."

About this game?

"So close," said Giomi. "So happy. Almost in tears right now. This win was a huge goal of ours. We've been beaten by 60 by Cleveland in past years."

So, it's just a lot of good things coming together for this team, not just on the court, but, off, and, in may ways, Sonya's daughter, Charli, explained it in a great way, asked what's different about this team from year's past?

"Just a lot more connection, we've really bonded as a group, helping each other with homework. I would consider these guys the sisters I never had. I can trust them no matter what."
Sisterly love. Sounds like success.

Going over scoring, in full, Giomi scored a game-high 16 points, Ioane scored 12, Fiso, seven, Sarver, six, and, Elliott, one. Ryshun Christopher led Cleveland with 13 points, and, Aqeelah Williams had 12.
West Seattle hosts Bainbridge Island at 6:30 pm on Friday before going on the road to face Rainier Beach next Wednesday and then coming home for what should be a good one against Sound division, second place team, Ballard, at 6:30 pm, on Friday, Jan 23. And, then, looking further out, if one wants to mark the calendar, West Seattle goes against Bishop Blanchet, who is 11-2, and, leads the 'Mountain' division of the Metro. That game, however, is at Bishop Blanchet at 7:30 pm on Jan. 28. But, this team is good, worth watching, traveling to see, even.

So, as was said, saying "We just beat the state champs," Coach Elliott, what would it feel like to be able to say later on this season, like, in March, after the 3A state championship game, "We just won the state championship!"?

That would be a pretty cool feeling.
"That would be nice," said Elliott.