The No.6 W.F. West girls basketball team did better than playing No. 3 Burlington-Edison in the second half of its opening-round matchup in the 2A state tournament, but the Bearcats couldn’t quite do enough to dig themselves all the way out of their first-half hole, falling 55-48 in Mount Vernon.
The Tigers blitzed their guests in back-to-back quarters to start the game, leading 31-18 at halftime. It started on defense, as Burlington-Edison held Julia Dalan to just two shots in the first 16 minutes.
“They were really keyed in on her when she was in the post, and any time we did stuff outside of the key, they really hassled our guards,” WFW coach Kyle Karnofski.
On the wrong side of a double-digit game, the Bearcats went back to the drawing board at the break, partially going to some of their lesser-used offensive concepts while also drawing some new looks up completely on the fly.
The changes worked; W.F. West closed the gap down to as few as three points in the third quarter, and kept it between three and five just about the rest of the way, before B-E hit a few free throws in the final minute to pull away.
“We had a really good second half,” Karnofksi said. “I loved our ability to manage some of those adjustments we made. It was a really competitive game.”
Dalan finished with 17 points to lead the Bearcats, going 7 for 9 from the floor, and Grace Simpson had 11. Amanda Bennett added nine points — leading the W.F. West offensive in the first half with six — and Morgan Rogerson scored eight.
“Amanda Bennett had one of her better games,” Karnofski said. “She was very strong attacking the hoop.”
W.F. West will now head to Yakima for the state tournament proper. The Bearcats will face No. 11 Renton, which won its loser-out game against Port Orchard 47-40 on Saturday, on Wednesday at the SunDome, with the winner going into the double-elimination quarterfinals and the loser going home.
“You win that one, you get to see two more,” Karnofski said. “You win one of those, you get some hardware, which is always the goal.”
