by Paul Moseley

The West Seattle Wildcats got introduced to Tea Adams and the Juanita High School Rebels in the District 2 semi-finals tonight at Bellevue College. The Wildcats, coming of their 14th straight win over Metro rival Bishop Blanchet, were aiming for a District championship to follow up on their Metro League title. It is not to be this year, as Adams and the Rebels defeated the Wildcats 51-48 in a game that put West Seattle in catch-up mode all night.

The Wildcats opened the game with a three-pointer by All-Metro clutch player Emily Fiso, but the Rebels then made quick work of West Seattle. Juanita started with a three-pointer by Adams, then 13 more by Adams over the course of the first quarter. The Rebels applied strong pressure, keeping the Wildcats off balance and breaking away early. At the end of the first quarter, Juanita was up 23-12. Tea Adams had outscored the full Wildcat side by 4 points.

West Seattle dug in, reducing the lead little by little and passing the torch on the offense to whittle down the deficit. The Juanita defense was tenacious though. The Wildcats appeared to lose the battle on the boards and were clearly struggling to bring the ball up the court as the Rebels pressured them into hasty passes. As soon as the Wildcats would make a run, the Rebels would respond. Competitive play by Metro MVP Lydia Giomi and All-Metro Lexi Ioane contributed seven points each in the first half. At the break, West Seattle was down by nine, 29-20.

The second half reversed the tide of the first…a bit. Fiso put in 15 points in the 2nd half (including three 3-pointers), and Giomi added 9. Ioane was injured, taking away a powerful weapon for the Wildcats, and the Rebels and Adams could not be slowed down enough to overcome. Adams added 11 points in the 2nd half to bring her game total to 30. West Seattle made a serious run at the end, coming within 3 points with 42 seconds left, but the Rebels stayed strong and held them off.

West Seattle outscored Juanita in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters, but it was not enough. "Juanita is a great team and it really hurt us to get off to a slow start.” said Head Coach Sonya Elliott. "We need to simply use this loss to make us work harder. We're back at it tomorrow. "

West Seattle set their sights on the Regional title as they wind their way through the State championship gauntlet that ends in Tacoma on March 7th. They will play for third place in the District on Saturday at 1:15PM at Bellevue College. The Rebels go to the District Championship finals Saturday night at 8:15 at Bellevue College.

High Scorers for Juanita:

Tea Adams - 30 points including two 3-pointers

Jaisa Nunn - 9

High Scorers for West Seattle:

Emily Fiso - 21 Points including three 3-Pointers

Lydia Giomi - 16 Points

Lexi Ioane - 9 Points