Lady Hawks lose first game of the year, finish 2nd at Tri-District
Photo/Micheal Rios
By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
On Saturday, February 20, the undefeated (22-0) Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks played in the Tri-District championship game hosted at Lummi Nation high school. Their opponent was the Mt. Vernon Christian Hurricanes.
These two teams met just two weeks prior in the District 1B tournament. In that game the Lady Hawks trailed for the better part of three quarters before taking the lead in the 4th quarter. That lead quickly disappeared and it took an Aliya Jones bucket in the final 50 seconds to secure the victory. That was the closest the Lady Hawks had come to losing all season.
On to the Tri-District championship game. It played out very much the same as their first meeting, with the Hurricanes jumping out to a big lead early and the Lady Hawks having to play catchup.
What we’ve seen from the Lady Hawks all season is they play a 2-3 defense that really causes problems for the majority of teams out there. However, for those few teams who have really good shooters and players not afraid to shoot from 3-point territory, that 2-3 zone is much less a problem. The Hurricanes are such a team. They came out launching from deep and were connecting at an impressive clip. The Lady Hawks found themselves trailing 2-13 only minutes into the game. At the end of the 1st quarter they trailed 8-16 and at halftime they trailed 17-22.
At halftime the Lady Hawks would turn the reigns over to their star player Adiya Jones. If they were going to mount a comeback it would be on the back of her offensive skills. And that’s what played out, almost.
Adiya went on a scoring spree that spanned the 2nd and 3rd quarters in which she converted 10 buckets on 11 shots. Midway through the 3rd quarter she had scored 24 points and assisted on two Cyena Fryberg buckets to give the Lady Hawks a 31-25 lead. The Hurricanes refused to go away though and finished the 3rd quarter on a 6-0 run, leaving the game tied 31-31 with only the 4th quarter left to play.
In the 4th quarter, the Lady Hawks took a 37-34 lead with just over 5:00 left to play. Unfortunately, the offense would only be able to muster a single bucket in the final five minutes against the Hurricanes defense. The Hurricanes refused to let Adiya single handedly beat them, as they adjusted their defense to double-teaming her off the ball. This defensive strategy worked because on this day no Lady Hawk outside of Adiya was able to find an offensive rhythm.
The Lady Hawks fell to the Hurricanes with their impressive outside shooting, 39-41, and finished 2nd in the Tri-District Tournament. It marked the first loss of the season for the Tulalip girls.
Adiya led all scorers with 28 points on 12-20 shooting. All other Lady Hawks combined to score a season low 11 points on 5-30 shooting.
Lady Hawks bounce back with 54-42 victory at Regionals. On to State
Photo/Micheal Rios
After suffering their first loss of the season in the Tri-District championship game, the Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks (22-1) got a week of rest and preparation for their state qualifying game on Saturday, February 27. Their opponent was the Mary M. Knight Owls out of Elma, Washington. The game was played at the Everett Community College gymnasium.
On the line was a berth to the 1B State playoffs held in Spokane. Win and be one of only eight teams to play for the State Championship, lose and the season is over.
Similar to their last game, the Lady Hawks opponent came out firing from 3-point territory. The Owls connected on four 3-point shots early in the 1st quarter to take 12-7 lead. Coach Bubba Fryberg called a timeout to make sure his team understood that defensively all the perimeter players had to be quick to contest the Owl shooters. They had to contest those shots and not give them clean looks from outside.
Following the timeout, the Lady Hawks locked in defensively and used that tenacity to score at will on the offensive end. Spanning the 1st and 2nd quarters the Lady Hawks went on a very impressive 20-0 run to take a 27-12 lead. At halftime Tulalip led 29-19.
In the 2nd half, the Lady Hawks would continue to play top notch defense and allow Adiya to run the offense as a point-forward. The Owls has no answer for Adiya. Even when they would double and triple team her, she was just too big and too strong for the smaller Owl players. The Lady Hawks had no difficulty finishing the game and won 54-42.
Adiya once against stuffed the box score and led her team with 26 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals, and 3 blocks. Aliya and Keryn both scored 9 points apiece, while Cyena and Desirae combined to chip in 10 points.
Next up for the Lady Hawks is the 1B State playoffs where they will be one of eight teams vying for the coveted State Championship.