Kent-Meridian Clips Mountain View, 41-38

AAA girls

Junior Kristen Deal scored 13 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead fifth-ranked Kent-Meridian to the girls State AAA basketball championship at the Kingdome Saturday night.

The 41-38 victory over Mountain View provided the first championship for the Royals (26-3), who beat Shadle Park 49-46 in the first round, in six trips to state. The previous best for the South Puget Sound League north division champions was seventh.

K-M went on an 8-0 run to start the second half for a 27-17 lead.

“Last year we thought we could compete here,” Deal said. “This year we knew with three starters back that we could. Beating (No. 6) Shadle Park, (No. 4) Lake Washington and (No. 1 and defending champion) Prairie proved it. They were three great teams.”

Mountain View (23-6), which finished four games behind Prairie in the Greater St. Helen’s League, got within three by hitting 8 of 9 free throws in the fourth quarter. But after Briana Abrahamson made the last two with 2:23 to play, neither team could score. The Thunder’s last chance was a 3-pointer by Stacy Brough that rimmed out with 10 seconds left.

K-M 41, Mtn. View 38

(Championship Game)

K. Mer. 7 12 16 6 - 41 M. View 9 8 9 12 - 38

KENT-MERIDIAN (41) - Doxsee 3, Thomas 3, Deal 13, Dillard 8, Naval 9, Garrett 3, Bakke, Williams 2, Bigford.

MOUNTAIN VIEW (38) - Brough 15, Abrahamson 9, Wilson 6, Wolvert 6, Kingston, Fjellman, Schott, Newton 2, Ingle.

Prairie 74, Foss 43

(3rd, 6th places)

Sonja Curtis, a 6-foot-3 senior, scored 10 of her 29 points in the second quarter as the Falcons (25-1) from Brush Prairie bounced back from Friday night’s loss to K-M to beat the Falcons (22-6) of Tacoma.

Prairie 20 18 21 15 - 74 Foss 11 10 12 10 - 43

PRAIRIE (74) - Moss 6, Rosales 4, Dettorre, Curtis 29, Bradstreet 13, Spence, Ruiz 4, Herrera 2, Maylone, Ard 6, Elder 6, Adkins 4.

FOSS (43) - Gee, Harris 2, Davis 4, Hunter 2, Brown 18, Gorger 3, Shook 1, Reed 13, Riley, Herd, Wells.

Kamiakin 41, Lake Wash. 35

(4th, 7th places)

Kristin Willis scored 13 points as the seventh-ranked Braves jumped to a 27-18 haltime lead and held on to beat the Kangaroos.

Both teams finished 25-4.

L. Wash. 8 10 9 8 - 35 Kamiakin 15 12 5 9 - 41

LAKE WASHINGTON (35) - Middlesworth 6, S. Yarbrough 8, M. Yarbrough 12, Geddes 1, Morrison 2, Brown, Hansen, Sturing 6, Devine, Jung.

KAMIAKIN (41) - Lorenz 5, Keatts 2, Lampson 7, Willis 13, Cox 4, Erikson 1, Williams 7, Beck, Shaw 2, Larson.