Lewis and Clark starts defense with a win
STATE 4A TOURNAMENT
Welcome to Tacoma. Your question of the day: What do the Tacoma Dome and the Coliseum in Rome have in common? Neither have wireless access. Actually, I'm not sure about the Coliseum.
That's why this post is so late.
The Lewis and Clark Tigers opened the girls tournament by forcing enough turnovers to satisfy Homer Simpson, breaking out to a 19-8 lead after one quarter and breezing past an overmatched Puyallup team 59-36.
The Vikings, who lost to Idaho 5A champion Lake City 64-35 earlier this season, had 17 turnovers in that opening quarter and 33 for the game.
You can read the game story here.
The Tigers, defending 4A champions, actually let the Vikings hang around, mostly due to an inability to put the ball in the basket – and a propensity to foul. At halftime the Tigers had as many 3-point shots (10) as Puyallup had total attempts. LC had 38 shots but had made only 13 of them, including just one from long range. For the game LC was 22 of 57 from the floor.
Puyallup scored 11 of its overall points – the Vikings hit only nine field goals in 26 attempts – from the free throw line.
"I wasn't happy with our fouls," said LC coach Jim Redmon, "and we turned it over too much (18) ourselves."
Katelan Redmon, Kiki January and Lyndi Seidensticker all were in double figures for Lewis and Clark with 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively. Redmon missed most of the second half with four fouls.
"I was happy to see Katelan have such a good start," Redmon said noting the senior scored 13 first-half points, "after she had such a tough game in the regional final. She's in Seattle, her college coach (UW's June Daugherty) is in the stands and she wants to do well."
Puyallup was led by senior Sara Nichols, who hit four 3-pointers en route to 15 points.
• LC sophomore center Sarah Kliewer was left off the program roster, but made her presence known with three rebounds. The Tigers had 20 offensive boards and out-rebound Puyallup 37-24
• During the first quarter, while the Tigers were frenetically disturbing the Viking offense, one Puyallup fan constantly exhorted the officials to "call the hacks." Of course, early in the second quarter, when Katelan Redmon was fouled on a put back, the same fans screamed, "let them play."
• I'm not saying the Tigers are confident, but junior guard Brittany Kennedy watched the Dome staff trim a wild string off the LC net before the game as if she was mentally practicing for Saturday night.
• Redmon has signed to attend the University of Washington next year, and current UW coach Daugherty was sitting in the front row under the west basket watching. Stories in the Seattle papers this week hinted Daugherty is on the hot seat despite the good chance her team will gain an NCAA berth.