Mount Si unable to upset Totems
Published 9:34 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
SAMMAMISH — Approximately 200 girls’ basketball
fans gathered in the Sammamish High School gymnasium Friday, Feb.
2, to witness a battle between the 3A KingCo Valley Division
leaders, the Totems and the Mount Si Wildcats.
Sammamish won the tip-off at the start of the game, made
the first basket and was able to sustain dominance over Mount Si
for the remainder of the game with the help of
Yasmine Goomansingh’s 18 points and Darby Sparks’s contribution of
13. The Totems’ Stephanie Tolan had seven rebounds, and
Russy Graterol had six assists. Sammamish won 55-42.
The Wildcats’ Moriah Hover, who holds the league scoring
title with 311 points for the season, only recorded 11 points for
the night due to Sammamish’s double-team effort against
her. She did, however, lead the team with 18 rebounds.
“The biggest thing that hurt us is when you’re playing a
team with nine seniors, you can’t put them at the line,” Mount Si
coach Dirk Hansen said. “They just sat there at the free-throw line
and shot free-throw after free-throw.”
Sammamish led the Wildcats 7-0 in the first quarter until
Hover drove to the basket with the first two points for Mount Si.
Late in the first quarter, Kristen Hilty, a 5-foot-7 forward
for Sammamish, jumped to retrieve a ball and fell backward, hitting
her head and tailbone on the gym floor. Hilty lay on the floor for
a minute or two and was put back in the game by coach
Lorinda Fikkema, who later said Hilty felt fine after her fall.
Sammamish led 13-2 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Mount Si’s Angela Jones narrowed
the score to 13-4, but the team was unable to close the gap. The
first-place 3A KingCo Valley Division Totems were too hungry to
give up a loss to the No. 2 Wildcats.
Late in the second quarter, Hover blocked a shot and
drove the ball from Sammamish’s basket all the way down to
Mount Si’s before anyone could contest her two-point attempt. Mount
Si trailed 26-11after Hover’s basket. By halftime, Sammamish led
30-13.
The third quarter did not bode well for the Wildcats, despite
holding the Totems to 15 points while scoring 14. But Mount Si
came back in the fourth quarter with better defense, precise
shooting and 15 points to Sammamish’s 10. The team was not able to
pull ahead of the Totems in the final minutes, and Sammamish
claimed the victory, winning 55-42.
Hansen said the team felt good about its season.
“It’s coming together. Last year we only had seven wins,
and a couple of those were in non-league games,” he said. “It’s
a great improvement over last year.”
The Wildcats ended their season with a second-place
6-7 league record. They play Issaquah in Game 7 at the league
tournament Saturday at Bellevue Community College.
