By Anastasia Stepankowsky

West Seattle rebounded from Thursday’s drubbing by Lynnwood and overcame the loss of point guard Gabby Sarver to take a 54-45 state tournament victory over the Prairie Falcons Friday.

The win gives the Wildcats a chance to play Arlington for fourth place Saturday. They did it by holding on to the ball better, surrendering only 16 turnovers Friday, one fewer than they gave up in the first half alone to the hard pressing Lynnwood team Thursday.

“We communicated more. [On, we weren’t sure of each other and we weren’t really trusting each other. But today, we re- and came out how we normally play. It made a big difference, especially in that fourth quarter,” senior Emily Fiso said.

The lead changed hands four times in the first half, and Prairie led at intermission, 23-22. But the second half was all Wildcats basketball.

“We changed our defense a little bit. We told them to be aggressive,” said West Seattle head coach Sonya Elliott.

The Wildcats lost a little momentum when senior Charli Elliott left the game briefly after getting the wind knocked out of her. Elliott scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half. She returned to the floor after several plays. Fiso scored 14 of the Wildcats’ points in the first half, including four of the team’s five 3-pointers. She didn’t score in the second half.

West Seattle held its largest lead, 54-43, with just minutes left in the game, and Prairie couldn’t muster enough offense to challenge again.

Even in defeat, Prairie set 3A team tournament and game records. The Falcons attempted 69 three-pointers in the tournament, shattering the old record of 65 set by Holy Names in 2011. They also set a single game record Friday with 45 attempts from behind the arc, making 11 of them Friday, tying the single game record.

The loser of the West Seattle/Arlington game gets the sixth place slot. The match-up starts at 8:00 a.m. Saturday.

“We’re really excited to have one more game. We didn’t want to end our season on a loss,” Fiso said. “I don’t even know what I did, but I know what my other teammates did.”