The Squalicum girls basketball team is starting to warm up at the right time for the Storm but the wrong time for Ferndale as the Golden Eagles found out in a 49-35 loss at Squalicum on Monday, Jan. 6.
The young Storm, who only have one senior and one junior on the team, have now won three Northwest Conference games in a row to even their league record at 3-3 and their overall mark at 5-5.
“It’s taken us a while to get that team chemistry,” said Squalicum coach Jenalyn Brown, who sometimes had four sophomores and a freshman on the floor. “We’ve taken our lumps, but sometimes those bond you together. They’re just a great group of kids.”
Ferndale isn’t much older with only two seniors on the squad, but the Golden Eagles started slow especially on offense and never got going against the Storm’s athletic defenders.
“We just came out flat,” said Ferndale coach Terri Yost, whose team dropped to 3-3 in league and 4-6 overall. “We depend on our shooting, and we were not shooting well. Squalicum is a quick team, and they played a good game.”
Ferndale struggled from the start against Squalicum’s man-to-man defense, only managing two field goals in the first quarter and only 16 points in the first half. The Storm wasn’t exactly scorching the nets either and only led by eight at intermission, in part because of Ferndale’s own scrappy defense.
But the Golden Eagles stayed cold in the third quarter managing only five points while Squalicum built the lead to 15 by the end of the third quarter and as much as 20 in the fourth quarter.
Ferndale junior Kayla Washington made two 3-pointers in the final two minutes which was just as many as the Golden Eagles had made the previous 30 minutes. And four 3s is not enough when your offense revolves around shooting 3-pointers.
“I thought we’d come out ready, but we weren’t super energized (at the start),” said Washington, who led the Golden Eagles with 13 points and three 3-pointers. “I think we’re pretty equal (to Squalicum), but we got outhustled and didn’t play to our potential.”
Meanwhile, the Storm got offensive production from a host of players with five scoring at least 5 points.
Leading the way was Tiana Thompson, who is listed as a 5-foot-8 guard but who plays like a 5-10 forward. The sophomore had 19 points, often flashing to the basket but even hitting a 3-pointer. And if that wasn’t enough, she had 5 steals and was the main defender responsible for holding Ferndale standout Jillea Fox to 12 points.
“We knew it would be a physical game, so we wanted to play our hardest and prove we could beat them,” Thompson said. “Jilly’s a really good all-around player who’s hard to guard. But our defense kept us in the game, and I love to play defense.”
Joining the Storm’s balance scoring attack was sophomore Carli Kiesau, who came off the bench to score 9 points; sophomore Lexi Robbins with 7 points; sophomore Addison Kettman with 6 points; and freshman Kai Perez with 5 points.
Squalicum also used its height advantage to dominate the boards with sophomore Jazmin Singh-Sanchez grabbing 8 rebounds as the Storm pulled down 40 rebounds, 18 of them offensive. “That was key to winning the game,” said Brown.
The 5-4 Washington would lead Ferndale with 9 rebounds, and the 5-10 Fox, the only Golden Eagle taller than 5-8, still had 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.
Ferndale will need to regroup quickly with a non-league game on Tuesday at home against Everett before an important Class 3A matchup at Mount Vernon on Thursday.
Squalicum is off until Saturday when the Storm hosts Mount Baker.
“I hope this boosts their confidence,” said Brown of the winning streak. “They’ve worked hard for it.”
Squalicum 49, Ferndale 35
Ferndale 8 8 5 14—35
Squalicum 11 13 12 13—49
Ferndale: Smetana, Larrabee 4, Gilday, Fox 12, Washington 13, Dawson, Vargas 2, White 4, Lee.
Squalicum: Murphy-Kangas 2, Singh-Sanchez 1, Horst, Paz, Perez 5, Thompson 19, Kiesau 9, Robbins 7, Harper, Kettman 6, Gibbs.
