1B Girls State: Injury, Loss Send Lummi Into Consolation Round, 41-33

The Lummi Nation girls basketball team once again took a top team to the brink but couldn’t hold on and lost, this time to No.2 Garfield-Palouse in the Class 1B state quarterfinals, 41-33, on Thursday, March 5, in the Spokane Arena.

With the loss, the eighth-seeded Lady Blackhawks fell to 21-5 on the season and will play Yakama Tribal in a consolation game Friday at 2 p.m. The good news: If they win, the Blackhawks will earn the program’s first trophy since 2009. The bad news: If they lose Friday, they’ll be eliminated.

“Yakama likes to run just like we do, so we’re expecting another battle,” said Lummi Nation coach David James. “I think we match up with them pretty well, and it should be a good one.”

For coverage of all of our Whatcom teams’ state games, click on State Games.

Thursday’s game against last year’s state runner-up could have been a good one, but the Blackhawks were hurting from the second quarter on — literally. Eighth-grade sensation Jordy Reeder took a painful elbow to the eye, and while she tried to return, she sat out most of the game and only had two points, more than a dozen points below her average.

Until then, Lummi Nation looked primed to pull off the upset. The Blackhawks had come close in regionals, losing to top-ranked and three-time defending state champion Neah Bay by two points. But on Thursday, they held the Vikings to only 16 points at the half and were up by as much as 12 before intermission.

But with their second-leading scorer and top 3-point shooter out, the Lummi offense also was out of rhythm.

“It definitely slowed the tempo down for us,” said James of Reeder’s loss. “Jordy brings so much intensity on both ends of the foor, so not having her out there was tough.”

Junior Jemma James did her best to keep the Blackhawks in the fight with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 steals. Senior Ailina Rabang had 8 points thanks to a pair of 3-pointers and 5 rebounds, and Brianna Metteba had 5 rebounds.

But Lummi Nation missed all 13 of its 3-point attempts in the second half and could only come up with nine points after halftime.

Coach James said he was hoping that despite the painful injury, Reeder would be able to play on Friday against Yakama Tribal.

Garfield-Palouse 41, Lummi Nation 33

Lummi Nation 13 11 4 5—33

Garfield-Palouse 8 8 12 13—41

Lummi Nation: J. James 15, Rabang 8, B. Metteba 2, Reeder 2, Dennis 1, Lajuan 3, C. James 2, M. Metteba.

Garfield-Palouse: Johnson, Collier 14, Lentz, Laughary, Gehring 11, Huffman, Kelnhofer, E. Flansburg 11, Brantner 4.

CLASS 1B GIRLS STATE TOURNAMENT

At Numerica Veterans Arena (Spokane Arena)

Wednesday, March 4

Crosspoint Christian 53, Liberty Christian 44 (loser out)

Pateros 59, Pe Ell 45 (loser out)