The Sehome girls basketball team rallied in the fourth quarter to pull out a close one, beating Anacortes in a Class 2A District 1 consolation game, 51-49, on Wednesday night, Feb. 15, at Mount Vernon High School.
The Squalicum girls, however, saw their rally come up short in the final period as they lost to Archbishop Murphy, 49-42, in the other consolation contest Wednesday.
Sehome now moves on to play Archbishop Murphy on Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the consolation final at Mount Vernon with the winner getting the district’s third and final state berth. Lynden will play Burlington-Edison in the championship game at 7:15 p.m.
Unfortunately for Squalicum, the loss ends the Storm’s season.
NEXT UP: The Class 2A boys have their District 1 consolation games Thursday night. Squalicum will take on Lakewood at 5:30 and Lynden faces off with Archbishop Murphy at 7:15 at Mount Vernon High School. The winners will square off on Saturday for the district’s final state berth. Catch all the action at Whatcom Hoops.
Sehome Edges Anacortes In Exciting Final Seconds
Junior Madi Cooper hit two free throws with seven seconds left to give Sehome a 51-49 lead and junior Natalie Brewer blocked the Seahawks’ final shot to preserve the victory and send the Mariners into Friday’s consolation final.
“This was a huge win,” said Sehome coach Kim Stensgar, whose team improved to 17-5. “It was close the whole way.”
Brewer contributed on both ends of the floor. In addition to the defensive play of the game, she had a game-high 19 points. Cooper finished with 9 points, junior Maddie Hogan had 8, and junior Emmy Hart had 7.
Another junior, Macie Aven, came off the bench and had a clutch three-point play in the fourth-quarter rally, when the Mariners came back from five points down with two minutes to go.
Most impressive was the Mariners’ free throw shooting especially with the pressure of a loser-out game. They hit 13 of 14 free throws, including 6 of 7 in the final period with their season on the line.
“We knew we were undersized and had to rebound better than we did on Monday,” Stensgar said of a 56-46 semifinal loss to Burlington-Edison. “I was happy with how we executed that. This was a team win where every player contributed in some way.”
With a win Friday against Archbishop Murphy, Sehome would reach the state regionals for the first time since 2015.
Sehome 51, Anacortes 49
Anacortes 13 10 14 12—49
Sehome 16 4 16 15—51
Anacortes: Hudson 10, R. Morgenthaler 12, B. Morgenthaler 7, Borlin 2, Oliver 3, Kerr 6, Hunt 2, Dunham 2, Hargrove 4.
Sehome: Mad. Cooper 9, Aven 3, Hart 7, Brewer 19, Mac Cooper 5, Hogan 8.
Squalicum Comes Up Short Against Archbishop Murphy
The sixth-seeded Storm could only put together a seven-point fourth quarter and couldn’t quite catch the fifth-seeded Wildcats.
“We were in it the whole time; it was a completely tough loss, “ said Squalicum coach Jenny Brown, whose team ended the season at 11-12. “I thought we were going to pull it off. We just didn’t have the gas in the tank to take it all the way in that fourth quarter. “
Juniors Mari Binning and Caitlyn Richardson led the Storm with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Junior Loretta Murphy-Kangas added 6 points as did the team’s lone senior, Callie McEachran, who had Squalicum’s only two 3-pointers.
“It was a tough loss, but we killed it the whole game and stuck with it and did really well,” said McEachran.
Squalicum was seeking to return to state for the first time since 2010 and for only the third time in the school’s history. But Brown definitely wasn’t disappointed with her team.
“We had an incredible season,” she said.
Archbishop Murphy (12-10) was led by freshman sensation Blake Blachly, who had 22 points. The Wildcats will go on to play Sehome in the consolation final on Friday with a trip to state at stake.
Archbishop Murphy 49, Squalicum 42
Squalicum 13 11 11 7—42
Archbishop Murphy 13 14 11 11—49
Squalicum: Murphy-Kangas 6, Richardson 11, Stewart 4, Heaton 2, Binning 13, McEachran 6, Goering, Paz.
Archbishop Murphy: Blachly 22, Hookfin 4, Burns 5, Sullivan, Marr 10, Russell 6, Vick 2.
DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Play-in games
Wednesday, Feb. 8
#7 Lakewood 63, #10 Sedro-Woolley 20 (loser out)
#9 Cedarcrest 42, #8 Bellingham 29 (loser out)
First round
Friday, Feb. 10
#2 Burlington-Edison 80, Lakewood 37
#3 Sehome 50, #6 Squalicum 38
#5 Archbishop Murphy 57, #4 Anacortes 47
#1 Lynden 71, Cedarcrest 19
Monday, Feb. 13
Consolation games
Squalicum 65, Lakewood 32 (loser out)
Anacortes 52, Cedarcrest 25 (loser out)
Semifinals
At Mount Vernon
Burlington-Edison 56, Sehome 46
Lynden 52, Archbishop Murphy 42
Consolation games
Wednesday, Feb. 15
At Mount Vernon
Archbishop Murphy 49, Squalicum 42 (loser out)
Sehome 51, Anacortes 49 (loser out)
Friday, Feb. 17
At Mount Vernon
Consolation final
Archbishop Murphy (13-10) vs. Sehome (17-5), 5:30 p.m. (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)
Championship game
Lynden (19-4) vs. Burlington-Edison (17-5), 7:15 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
