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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Pirates run ashore

Lakeside’s speed too much for Rogers; Shadle girls lose

The Rogers boys basketball team’s journey to the Tacoma Dome got derailed at Mt. Spokane High School on Saturday.

Speedy and athletic Lakeside of Seattle used a couple of runs to hold off the Pirates 76-63 in a 3A regional round of state game.

This much is certain – Rogers used every ounce of gas in its tank and had to borrow some to keep up with Lakeside.

The Pirates like to play fast. Lakeside plays faster.

“We like to get up and down the floor, but there were a couple of situations we needed to slow down and set something up,” Rogers coach Joel Soter said. “We start getting off-balance and with our ball handling we get to leaning a little bit, and our passes were off and our shots were off. We had some unforced turnovers.”

And those mistakes were caused by Lakeside’s defense and insistence on playing, well, fast.

Rogers played before a packed gym that consisted mostly of Pirates supporters. That alone provided extra incentive for Rogers.

Things ramped up as the Pirates broke out quickly – probably too quickly, setting up a false sense of security.

“We were just too hyper, we just wanted it so bad,” Rogers senior guard Robert Rucker said. “We got real confident but we stopped playing defense. It was like ‘oh, we’ve got this’. We just thought they’d (the points) keep coming like they were coming and didn’t realize we needed to work twice as hard.”

Rucker was talking specifically about the Pirates’ start that allowed them to open a 20-10 lead when KJ Hassett hit a 3-pointer with 1:17 to go in the first quarter.

Something switched, and it switched in a hurry. Lakeside went on a 19-1 run that allowed the Lions to take a 40-30 lead into halftime.

Rogers fell behind 45-32 early in the third, but kept fighting.

A 7-0 surge early in the fourth allowed the Pirates to pull within 58-56. Then Rogers got a steal and had an opportunity to tie or take the lead. But it’s as if the Pirates’ momentum stopped in its tracks. Lakeside finished the game on an 18-7 run.

Daejon Davis, a sophomore, and Isiah Brown, a junior, scored 27 and 24 points, respectively, for Lakeside. Rucker had 21, Melik Hampton added 17 and 11 rebounds for the Pirates.

“I’m definitely proud of our season,” Rucker said. “Wish we would have gone further. The goal was to get to the Tacoma Dome. We still met some goals and made some history.”

Girls

Arlington 52, Shadle Park 35: The Eagles pulled away from a 25-24 halftime lead, limiting the Highlanders to 11 points the final two quarters in the 3A regional round of state game at Mt. Spokane.

The Eagles were particularly effective inside against Shadle’s 2-3 zone. Jessica Ludwing finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds and Jayla Russ came off the bench to contribute nine rebounds.

Arlington owned the boards, outrebounding the shorter Highlanders 40-27.

Shadle’s chances were hurt severely when leading scorer Shyla Carr fouled out with 5:18 remaining.

The teams were tied at 27-27 and Arlington went on a 17-4 run to build separation.

Carr led Shadle with 13 points. Her final basket came with 46 seconds left in the third. The Highlanders’ next basket didn’t come until 2:42 remained.