It’s two down and one to go for the Squalicum girls basketball team.
The Storm won their second straight loser-out game, beating Anacortes, 51-36, in the Class 2A District 1 consolation final on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
By taking third place, Squalicum advances to the District 1/5 crossover against Selah on Saturday. The winner of that game earns a berth in the state regionals.
“It’s surreal,” said freshman Avery Kettman of the Storm being one win away from going to state for the first time since 2010, a year before she was even born. “This is so much fun.”
Wednesday was not as much fun for the Ferndale girls. A cold second half left them out in the cold after losing to Shorecrest, 90-69, in the Class 3A District 1 consolation bracket. The loss ended the Golden Eagles’ season with a 9-15 record.
2A Girls: Storm Take Third With 51-36 Win Over Anacortes
The seventh-ranked Storm showed scrappy, defensive-minded Anacortes what true scrappy defense looks like as Squalicum shut out the Seahawks in the second quarter on the way to a decisive 51-36 victory. The win improved the Storm’s record to 20-4.
After a first period in which Squalicum needed junior Jazmin Singh-Sanchez’s turnaround jumper with five seconds remaining to take a 13-12 lead, it looked like Anacortes’s scary fullcourt, in-your-face defense would leave the Storm vulnerable to a major upset by the underdog Seahawks, who were 34th in the state’s RPI ranking.
But the Seahawks aren’t the only ones who play tough defense. Switching from a 1-2-2 zone, to a halfcourt trap, to a sticky man-to-man — often on consecutive possessions — the Storm held Anacortes scoreless for the full eight minutes the second period.
Meanwhile, the Squalicum offense got rolling. Junior Colee Harper’s 3-pointer gave Squalicum a double-digit lead midway through the period and when the halftime buzzer went off, the Storm had gone off for an 18-0 second quarter and held a 31-12 lead.
“I was in shock,” junior Lexi Robbins said of her reaction to seeing the halftime score. “We take pride in our defense. But we knew we had to keep going. After halftime, it was zero-to-zero again.”
The Storm stretched the margin to 20 early in the third period, but the Seahawks clawed their way to within 12 with a chance to get the lead under 10. That’s when Squalicum ran off eight points in a row to put the game away.
Junior Tiana Thompson hit a pair of free throws and a 3-pointer and Robbins added another 3-pointer, and the Seahawks never got within 14 points again as their season ended with a 9-14 record.
“It was working, so we kept going in the second half,” Squalicum coach Caden Mee said of the team’s effective defensive strategy. Then with a smile, he added, “Overall, I can’t complain at all.”
The 6-foot Kettman dominated inside against the smaller Seahawks with 13 points, five coming in the decisive second period, and 7 rebounds.
Thompson had half of her 12 points in the second quarter plus 4 rebounds, Harper had 7 points, and Singh-Sanchez came off the bench to add 5 points. Junior Addison Kettman, Avery’s older sister, had a game-high 12 rebounds and 3 steals.
Robbins, the smooth 5-foot-7 point guard, also had 12 points and a pair of 3-pointers, but her importance went far beyond her scoring. Despite being at the center of Anacortes’s chaotic pressure, she cooly broke the press again and again, set up the Squalicum offense, and dished out 8 assists.
“She’s the glue to the team,” said Kettman, who has watched classmates Addison and Robbins play together for years. “I always dreamed of playing with her. She’s an amazing team player.”
Mee said Robbins’s value was just as much mental as it was physical. “A lot of our players react to how she reacts,” said Mee. “She’s not just a great shooter, and passer, and defender … but she’s more composed this year. And when she plays calm, everyone else plays calm.”
When asked if Robbins was like a coach on the floor, he jokingly said, “Half the time, she’s telling us what to call.” Then again, maybe it wasn’t jokingly.
Now the Storm get to prepare for Saturday’s winner-to-state game, something lone senior Jolie Paz and the team’s nine juniors have been working toward for three years. The Storm will host 10th-ranked Selah, which finished third in District 5 with an 18-7 record, on Saturday at a time still to be determined.
“It’s exciting,” Robbins said of the opportunity.” It’s something we’ve all wanted for so long. That’s been our goal all season, It’s been my goal since I came to Squalicum.”
The 2A District 1 tournaments finish up with championship games on Thursday. The Lynden girls and Archbishop Murphy square off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Lynden boys and Anacortes at 7:15 p.m. Those four have already qualified for the state regionals.
Squalicum 51, Anacortes 36
Anacortes 12 0 15 9—36
Squalicum 13 18 12 8—51
Anacortes: Ward, Olson 7, Michael 8, Lemrick, Bowman 2, Davis 11, A. Nigro 6, Rowell, Swapp 2.
Squalicum: Cecka, Av. Kettman 13, Paz 2, Horst, Blue, Singh-Sanchez 5, Thompson 12, Olufemi-Daniel, Robbins 12, Harper 7, Ad. Kettman, A. Kiesau.
CLASS 2A GIRLS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Tuesday, Feb. 10
Play-in game
Bellingham 70, Marysville-Pilchuck 26 (loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 12
Quarterfinals
Lynden 67, Bellingham 13
Archbishop Murphy 76, Anacortes 18
Squalicum 56, Burlington-Edison 44
Sehome, 53, Lakewood 40
Saturday, Feb. 14
At Mount Vernon
Consolation games
Anacortes 53, Burlington-Edison 48 (loser out)
Lakewood 51, Bellingham 38 (loser out)
Semifinals
At Mount Vernon
Archbishop Murphy 62, Squalicum 25
Lynden 64, Sehome 20
Monday, Feb. 16
Consolation games
At Lynden
Anacortes 55, Sehome 50 (loser out)
Squalicum 56, Lakewood 42 (loser out)
Wednesday, Feb. 18
At Mount Vernon
Consolation final
Squalicum 51, Anacortes 36 (winner third, to District 1/5 crossover, loser out)
Thursday, Feb. 19
At Mount Vernon
Championship game
Lynden vs. Archbishop Murphy, 5:30 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
3A Girls: Ferndale’s Season Ends With 90-69 Loss To Shorecrest
The Golden Eagles were hoping to pull off one more upset, but despite putting up their second-highest point total of the season, couldn’t stop Shorecrest in the Class 3A District 1 consolation bracket, 90-69.
As the 10th seed in the tournament, Ferndale had already knocked off seventh-seeded Everett on a last-second shot a week ago. But the sixth-seeded Scots proved too quick and put up their highest point total of the season in eliminating the Golden Eagles.
Ferndale only trailed by two at the half, but couldn’t keep up with Shorecrest, which scored 56 points in the second half.
“Our girls battled hard,” said Ferndale coach Terri Yost. “Shorecrest is a quick team and shot well tonight.”
Seniors Abbey White and Kayla Washington led the Golden Eagles with 13 points each. White made nine of 10 from the line, and Washington hit three 3-pointers.
Junior Kenzie Dawson added 12 points and a pair of 3-pointers, junior Brooklyn Larrabee had 9 points, junior Kayla Lee and sophomore Ari Gilday had 7 points each, and freshman Mia Collins had 6 points.
“This is a special group of girls,” said Yost. “They showed up every day and got after it. We had a lot of adversity we had to overcome this season, and the girls really came together for each other to get the job done.”
Wednesday’s game was the final one for three Ferndale seniors — Washington, White, and Jilly Fox, an all-league forward last year who was injured halfway through the season.
“We will definitely miss our three seniors and their leadership,” said the coach.
Anna Usitalo had 34 points for Shorecrest, which improved to 11-13 and will play a winner-to-state, loser-out game against Meadowdale on Saturday.
Shorecrest 90, Ferndale 69
Ferndale 21 11 11 26—69
Shorecrest 21 13 24 32—90
Ferndale: Larrabee 9, Gilday 7, Dawson 12, Washington 13, Jefferson, Tom 2, Collins 6, White 13, Lee 7.
Shorecrest: H. Welch 8, Laconia 4, L. Trujillo 10, Usitalo 37, M. Trujillo 2, Perrin 18, Yang 4, R. Welch 3, Kennedy 2, Grace 2.
CLASS 3A GIRLS DISTRICT 1 TOURNAMENT
Thursday, Feb. 12
First round
Ferndale 46, Everett 45 (loser out)
Mount Vernon 68, Shorewood 49 (loser out)
Shorecrest 71, Monroe 58 (loser out)
Sedro-Woolley 51, Mountlake Terrace 44 (loser out)
Saturday, Feb. 14
Quarterfinals
Snohomish 62, Sedro-Woolley 27
Edmonds-Woodway 68, Ferndale 38
Stanwood 69, Shorecrest 37
Meadowdale 68, Mount Vernon 61
Wednesday, Feb. 18
Consolation games
Shorecrest 90, Ferndale 69 (loser out)
Mount Vernon 56, Sedro-Woolley 49 (loser out)
Semifinals
Edmonds-Woodway 55, Stanwood 47
Snohomish 47, Meadowdale 36
Saturday, Feb. 21
At Jackson High
Consolation semifinals
Shorecrest vs. Meadowdale, 11:45 a.m. (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)
Mount Vernon vs. Stanwood, 3:15 p.m. (winner third, to state regionals, loser out)
Championship game
Snohomish vs. Edmonds-Woodway, 7 p.m. (winner first, loser second, both to state regionals)
