Lakeside Has The Defense, But Invisible Offense Costly

The Lakeside defense was working like a charm in the second half.

The Lakeside offense wasn’t.

The Eagles forced several Ilwaco turnovers with their stingy full-court press, but their inability to score easy layins in the fourth quarter led to a 47-34 loss Thursday in a quarterfinal at the WIAA/U.S. Bank girls State A high school basketball championships in the Tacoma Dome.

“Had we made a few of those I’d be standing here with a smile,” said Lakeside coach Lisa Schultz.

Lakeside, which returned home from last year’s state tournament without a medal, will play Cascade (24-2) today at noon for the right to play for fourth and seventh Saturday.

The Eagles (22-4) held Ilwaco (21-1) to only two points in the third quarter. But they were only able to score six.

In the final quarter, the Eagles missed 8 of 11 shots from close range, allowing Ilwaco to maintain a small lead. Lakeside was down 33-26 when two missed layins dampened their comeback attempt and their spirits.

“What killed us was, when we got the turnovers, we couldn’t convert the baskets,” Schultz said. “You can only take so many of those before it rattles you.”

The Eagles were also hurt by Ilwaco’s size. Stephanie Guenther, who averages 16.7 points a game, was held scoreless by Kristin McClintock (15 points) and Lori Newell (12).

“She’s 5-foot-8,” Schultz said, “and she’s going up against 6-footers. They were awfully big inside.”

Bernadette Rowse, who scored two 3-pointers, led Lakeside with 10 points.

Lakeside was down 29-18 at halftime. Over the season, the Eagles’ defense held teams to 42 points per game, so it concentrated on defense in the second half against Ilwaco.

“We had our hearts in the defense in the second half,” Schultz said. “We’ve been beating teams with defense this season. That is what has carried us this far. But today, we beat ourselves.”

Ilwaco 47, Lakeside 34 Lakeside 7 11 6 10 34 Ilwaco 14 15 2 16 47

LAKESIDE (34)

Waddell 7, K. Rowse, Traber 8, L. Jolley 6, Guenther, B. Rowse 10, Hatch, B. Jolley 3.

ILWACO (47)

Newell 12, Land 6, Je. Brown 12, Ja. Brown 2, McClintock 15, Manley, Staudenraus.

King’s 49, Riverside 35

The Rams’ shooting frustration continued.

After shooting 28 percent in their opening loss to East Valley (Yakima), the Rams sank a few percentage points lower against the Knights.

Riverside made just 14 of 64 field-goal attempts as it exited the tournament with two straight losses. Their 21.9 percent was well below their season average of 38 percent.

“We had some lapses offensively,” Riverside coach Chris Wren said. “When things aren’t going your way, you’ve got to create some opportunities and we didn’t do that.”

Despite shooting 18 percent in the first half, the Rams trailed just 17-16 with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. Two steals and layups by Rebekah Sherfey, who scored a game-high 17 points, pushed the Knights’ lead to 21-16 at the half.

Sherfey started the second half the same way, scoring seven points in the Knights’ 11-0 run.

Riverside missed its first eight shots of the half and fell behind 32-17. The Rams also missed their first seven shots to begin the fourth quarter as King’s built its lead to 46-22.

Alana Carlander topped the Rams with 15 points, but had a string of 14 straight misses through the first, second and third quarters.

“At the beginning of the year, I would have never guessed we would have been here,” Wren said, noting her team has but two seniors.

King’s 10 11 15 13 49 Riverside 08 08 05 14 35

KING’S (49)

Sherfey 17, Huebner 0, S. Roosendaal 9, L. Roosendaal 0, Vicknair 14, Blackmer 5, Travis 0, Reichmann 4, Lalley 0.

RIVERSIDE (35)

Carlander 15, Thompson 3, Day 3, Stime 7, Wood 4, Snyder 0, Whittekiend 0, Shorts 0, Peterson 0, McMurphy 3.