State 2B girls: Kaitlyn Waters comes up clutch as Northwest Christian completes Cinderella run to title with upset of Adna in overtime
After Kaitlyn Waters made her final 3-pointer in warmups, the Northwest Christian standout held the finish a little longer than normal and sent a wink in the direction of her teammates.
The Crusaders’ point guard wanted to let her team know that she was locked in – and then in the most pivotal moments she made sure Adna knew it as well.
Waters hit a 13-foot floater with 5.1 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime, and then continued delivering in the bonus period as eighth-seeded Northwest Christian capped its run with a girls State 2B title-game victory over the second-seeded Pirates 73-66 on Saturday night at the Arena.
“For one of the first times in my life I just wasn’t that stressed before a game,” Waters said. “This was just such a crazy experience and usually I have a ton of nerves before a game, but even during warmups I was just locked in and was ready to get out there and play my best.”
Waters did a little bit of everything for the Crusaders en route to the program’s first state title. The junior scored 20 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out nine assists and had three steals – two of which came in the final minute as Northwest Christian stormed back from a five-point deficit as Adna looked to close out the game.
But it was far from a one-person effort for Northwest Christian, as post Macey Shamblin notched a double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds, and wing Julianna Pope added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
“When we were watching film on them, we kind of realized that I might have some mismatches against their posts,” Shamblin said. “Obviously, I can’t go into the game thinking I’m just going to dominate because of that, but I think it pushed me to work harder and earn each point.”
The Crusaders came out with a purpose from the opening tip, going on a 9-0 run to force Adna into an early timeout to slow momentum. First-year NWC head coach Nikki Nelson said that setting the early tone was something they’ve talked about all the way back to their opening-round upset of top-seeded Rainier last weekend.
“I think even in the locker room you could feel a different energy before the game. Honestly, it was just electric and that carried over to the court,” Nelson said. “It’s been a hard road to get here and we’ve played some really tough teams, and I think with each win it made the girls believe a bit more.”
The win wasn’t without adversity, though, as Waters was called for her second personal foul near the end of the first quarter, sending her to the bench for most of the second quarter.
That’s when the duo of Shamblin and Pope – along with timely shots from Leah Platt and Ester MacPherson – stepped up to keep the potent Adna offense within striking distance.
“I was just really trying to give everything I had from the bench at that point because I knew I needed to be out there in the second half,” Waters said. “But our girls all just worked their behinds off out there, especially when things got tough and kept us in it.”
After a back-and-forth third quarter, Adna grew its lead to seven points with under two minutes remaining after Karsyn Freeman went on a second-half scoring spree as part of her 27-point effort. The career 2,000-point scorer finished with 90 points in her three games over the weekend.
But after a second clutch 3-pointer from Freeman, Waters took the game by storm. With the Crusaders pressing after a Shamblin basket, Waters came up with a steal and found Pope for an easy layup.
Ten seconds later, the same thing happened and suddenly a seven-point deficit was down to one. Waters’ two free throws then put NWC on top, but Freeman again hit a huge 3-pointer with 13.7 seconds remaining to put the Pirates up two and set up Waters’ game-tying bucket. Waters added nine points in overtime and drew two critical charges on Freeman.“Kaitlyn is such a rare point guard to watch because she can do everything and loves to get in and do the hard stuff too,” Nelson said. “She has such a selfless ability to lead and help make her teammates better. Today was the best I have ever seen her.”
The Crusaders will bring home the trophy knowing they topped the Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 seeds to claim the title.
“Through this whole season we have battled through so much and fought so hard together with not many people really expecting much from us,” Waters said. “But we just bound together in the end and dug deeper than we even knew we could.”
The State 2B boys championship between Columbia and Freeman finished after The Spokesman-Review’s print deadline. Visit www.spokesman.com/sports for full coverage.