Basketball teams like to talk about “defending their home court.” Well, few have done it better than the Meridian boys and girls on Friday night, Dec. 20.
The Trojans used defense to sweep a doubleheader with Blaine on Diane Axelson Court — the Meridian boys shutting out the Borderites in the fourth quarter to preserve a 75-44 win and the Meridian girls shutting down the Borderites in every quarter of a 43-9 victory.
“We take a lot of pride on the defensive side of the ball,” said Meridian senior Talon Jenkins. “You’ve got to give effort. ‘Attack and defend’ … that’s our motto.”
With the win, the Meridian boys raised their record to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in Northwest Conference play, while the Blaine boys fell to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the conference.
The Meridian girls, meanwhile, also attacked and defended enough to improve to 4-1 for the season and 3-1 in the NWC. The Blaine girls dropped to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in league play.
The Meridian defense made it tough on Blaine’s Abdul Kanagie.
Meridian Boys Pull Away For 75-44 Victory
Despite the final score, Meridian coach Shane Stacy made it clear: “It was not a 30-point game.”
Indeed, after their pressure defense sparked a 15-2 run in the first quarter, the Trojans had a double-digit lead and appeared in command. But the Borderites cut the margin to two just before halftime and were still within 10 going into the fourth period.
Unfortunately for the Borderites, that’s as close as they’d get as foul trouble and Meridian’s defense led to a scoreless final period and the 31-point final margin.
“There’s always one quarter where we fall off the cliff,” said first-year Blaine coach Chas Kok. “If we can avoid that, we’ll be in a lot of games. All we’re trying to do is improve every day. They listen to us, they buy in. And we’re hoping to be playing our best games in February.”
Blaine’s determination and grit impressed Stacy.
“It’s great for us to have games like this, to have to persevere,” said the Meridian coach. “They (the Borderites) fought back. They could have rolled over. Chas is doing a great job.”
In the end, Meridian had too much firepower, in part thanks to its big guns — Jenkins and fellow senior Jaeger Fyfe, two of the NWC’s top scorers.
Jenkins would finish with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, and 7 rebounds. Fyfe had 17 points and three 3s, with 10 of his points coming in the first-quarter explosion. He also had 10 rebounds, 6 steals, and 3 assists.
But with the Borderites playing a triangle-and-two defense on the stars, the rest of the Trojans got in the act. Senior James Hedahl had 10 points and 5 rebounds inside, senior Brock Haugen had 8 points, and sophomores Pierce Brzozowski and Nate Payne had 6 points each with Brzozowski hitting two 3s.
“When we work together, that’s when we beat that (triangle and two),” said Jenkins. “We’ve got to get the others involved. It wasn’t a pretty game for us, but it was fun.”
It wasn’t as much fun on the other side as the Borderites struggled to find points, especially after senior Abdul Kanagie got into foul trouble.
The 6-foot-4 forward battled inside for 12 first-half points, but was hit with his third and fourth fouls less than a minute into the second half and was forced to the bench. He managed to play two minutes in the fourth period before fouling out with 14 points.
“We worked really hard the first three quarters,” said Kanagie, who also had 5 rebounds. “When our energy is high, we’re a good team. We’re realizing our potential when we don’t make turnovers.” As for his night, Kanagie said, “I felt good. I just have to stay out of foul trouble.”
That left most of the offense to senior Josiah Weeda, who helped keep the Borderites in the game with 14 points in the first half. He would finish with a game-high 19, including three 3-pointers. Junior Kai Kerwin had 6 points on two 3-pointers, but was the only other Borderites with more than four points.
Blaine will get a break during the holidays and won’t be in action again until it hosts Squalicum on Jan. 3.
Meridian will be back on its home court for three games during the Trojan Storm Classic holiday tournament on Dec. 26 through 28.
Meridian 75, Blaine 44
Blaine 10 22 12 0—44
Meridian 20 21 13 21—75
Blaine: Kerwin 6, Dahl, Banks 1, Bleazard 4, Kenagie 14, Melton, Brown, Dohner, Weeda 19.
Meridian: Jenkins 18, Hayes 2, Fyfe 17, James, Haugen 8, Blankenburg 3, Laresen, Alexander, Galbraith 5, Brzozowski 6, Harris, Hedahl 10, Payne 6.
The Meridian starters cheer on the reserves.
Meridian Girls Use Power Of Press To Win, 43-9
The Trojans took full advantage of their pressure on defense and their bench on offense to make life miserable for the Borderites.
“We played as a team and got contributions from the bench and experience for the younger girls,” said Meridian coach Bree Joy. “The sky’s the limit for this team. We want to be peaking at the end of the season. We want to keep taking steps in the right direction.”
Meridian’s fullcourt press — led by guards Brooklyn Fuller, Edna Bernardy, and Amelia Koning — made it nearly impossible for Blaine to get into its offense in the first half, especially with point guard Kate Koreski missing the game.
But even after Joy called off the press in the second half, the Trojans defense would end up only giving up three field goals and two made free throws for the game.
“I love the press,” said sophomore Koning, who also led the Trojans with 12 points and a pair of 3-pointers. “We have a lot of athletic ability, and we put it to use. Defense is our strong suit. Then our defense feeds into our offense.”
Not that the Meridian offense was overwhelming. Blaine’s own athleticism and hard-nose defense combined with too many Meridian missed layups, had Joy going to her reserves — who came through big time with 30 points.
Six Trojans came off the bench to score, including Koning and freshman Melanie Short, who had 7 points. Sophomore Kaitlyn Storgaard also had a game-high 7 rebounds.
For Blaine, freshman Courtney Roff had a 3-pointer; senior Brie Smith had a three-point play, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals; and junior Aaliyah Bowman had a bucket and free throw, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals. It wasn’t much offense, but Blaine coach Vic Wolffis wasn’t discouraged.
“I’m incredibly proud of how they played,” said Wolffis, who started the season with only one player with high school basketball experience. “It’s hard to keep your energy up when your offense isn’t working, but they battled and fought.”
The Blaine girls wrap up 2024 with a non-league game at Cascade (Everett) on Saturday and then are off until hosting Squalicum on Jan. 3.
The Meridian girls are at Cedarcrest on Saturday and then will play three games in their own Trojan Storm Classic on Dec. 26-28.
Meridian 43, Blaine 9
Blaine 3 0 3 3— 9
Meridian 8 16 11 8—43
Blaine: Tanjuaquio, Puls, Bowman 3, Sandell, Roff 3, Dickson, Gutierrez, Samra, Bring, Smith 3.
Meridian: Fuller 3, Neal, Koning 12, Bernardy 4, Martin 2, Storgaard 2, Swanson 2, Brooks 4, Short 7, James, Cline-Malarz 3, Benson 4.
