Playing behind for most of its game against Sehome, the W.F. West girls basketball team fought all the way back from an 11-point deficit — and even took a brief lead — but fell on a last-second shot in Lynden, 54-53, Tuesday night.
The Bearcats led by one point and had a chance to extend its lead at the line, but missed the front-end of a one-and-one, and the Mariners responded with a 3-pointer with five seconds left.
W.F. West drew a play up out of a timeout and had a good look at a game-winner, but the shot didn’t fall. It’s the Bearcats first loss this season.
“I’m really proud of the girls battling back and dealing with foul trouble,” Bearcats coach Kyle Karnofski said. “I liked the grittiness we showed coming back.”
Despite a valiant attempt at a comeback, it seemed like every time the Mariners needed a big shot, they hit it, with nine made 3-pointers over the course of the game.
That, and a hot start, were enough to sink a W.F. West team still learning how to play in tight games as a group.
“They’re a good team,” Karnofski said of Sehome. “They shot it well, they were fast defensively and turned us over a bit. They came out with a bit more energy, we seemed a bit slow to start. From the get-go they punched us in the mouth, it took us a while how to figure out playing with them.
“As a whole you want to play close games to practice those situations, hopefully we can use this to help us in the future.”
The Bearcats will likely get another chance to do just that Wednesday when they take on host Lynden at 6 p.m.
