State 3A girls: Poor shooting dooms Mt. Spokane in quarterfinal loss to Lake Washington

Mt. Spokane hadn’t lost to a 3A team all season. But things change when teams get to the Dome.

The Wildcats produced their second-lowest scoring output of the season, shooting just 25% overall and 5 of 25 on 3-point attempts, and No. 6 Lake Washington edged No. 4 Mt. Spokane 48-45 in a State 3A quarterfinal at Tacoma Dome on Thursday.

Lake Washington advanced to a semifinal on Friday at 7:15 p.m. Mt. Spokane was relegated to the fourth-place bracket with a game against No. 10 Seattle Prep at 12:15 p.m.

Despite the poor shooting, the Wildcats (19-4) got the ball to their best long-range shooter as time ticked away with a shot to tie, but all-league guard Emma Main’s last-second heave was off the mark.

Main led the Cats with 11 points, despite going 4 of 17 from the field and 2 of 8 from beyond the arc. Greater Spokane League MVP Jayda Noble finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Noble made 3 of 13 shot attempts.

The damage went up and down the lineup for Mt. Spokane. Senior post Sophia Bertotti-Metoyer was 2 of 7 and frosh Destiny Kamalu-Vargas went 2 of 11 overall and 1 of 8 on 3s.

“We didn’t play very well ,and offensively we shot terribly today,” Mt. Spokane coach David Pratt said. “Lake Washington played really well. I mean, our kids played hard. They brought everything they could bring.

“But to not finish around the hoop, and not be able to convert like we have been was bizarre. Disappointing.”

A pair of sophomores led Lake Washington (21-6) – Rosa Smith scored 16 points and 6-foot-4 Elise Hani added 10 points and 12 boards.

The Kangaroos finished first in the KingCo 3A/2A League and beat No. 14 Hudson’s Bay 57-40 in a first-round elimination game on Wednesday.

Pratt tried to explain how his entire team went cold.

“I think part of it is some of the kids haven’t been in that situation,” he said. “I think part of it is, you know, they’re super long and their young post player – their 6-4 girl – she plugged up that middle really well.”

Lake Washington led 23-17 at intermission, but Mt. Spokane found some offense in the third and pulled within one.

Main hit a short jumper to tie it at 41 early in the fourth, and both teams struggled again down the stretch. Noble hit a runner with 30 seconds left to get the Cats within one at 46-45 but she picked up two quick fouls trying to get the ball back and fouled out. Smith hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it a three-point game.

With just a few seconds left on the clock, Main dribbled the length of the floor, spun away from a defender and got a good look from the wing, but her attempt to send it to OT hit the side of the iron and bounced away.

Pratt said Noble took the loss personally.

“We’re going to come out tomorrow and play hard,” he said. “I want to see (Noble) bounce back. I don’t think she had a great offensive game today but I think she did a lot of other things that were really good.”