By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Tulalip Heritage girls basketball team returned to the court for the 2024-2025 season on December 5 in an away game vs. the Shoreline Chargers. Many of the core players from last season are back, plus some key additions to give the Lady Hawks more depth and more skill sets for head coach Sabrina Moses to work with.
“We’ve added several new players, including Aylani Lewis. She’s just a freshman, but has the game of a much older player. She’s a true point guard who can control the tempo of our offense and get us into sets that her teammates are comfortable with,” said coach Sabrina. “She’s joining her sister Raylee who played with us last year.
“Also returning are sisters Lilly and Isabelle Jefferson to fortify our defense. I can always count on them to give full effort every minute they are on the court, which gives us an intensity we need.”
Controlled tempo on offense and intense defense were both on display by the Lady Hawks in their dismantling of Shoreline. Aylani’s effectiveness with the ball in her hands was evident from the jump. She scored 12 points in the 1st quarter by blowing by much larger defenders and scoring layups over their outstretched arms. Meanwhile, Heritage’s defense was wreaking havoc. The girls were jumping passing lanes and hounding Chargers ballhandlers into one turnover after another.
After one quarter of play, Tulalip led 16-2. They stretched that lead to 22-5 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, Lady Hawks forward Laniyah Moore made the most of a couple well-timed offense rebounds and scored on back-to-back high percentage shots.
The Lady Hawks were rolling until an unfortunate moment of friendly fire when Aylani and fellow guard Audrielle Mclean both went for a loose ball and collided at full speed. The collision resulted in both players exiting the game; Audrielle with a forehead cut that required 5 stitches and Aylani with concussion-like symptoms.
Without their top playmakers, the Lady Hawks held on for a well-deserved 34-18 victory. Aylani led all scorers with 15 points, while Laniyah and big sister Raylee both added 6 points each.
Following the season opening win, Lilly shared, “It felt really good to get this win. For me personally, I worked a lot on my shooting and dribbling to be more confident in games. Last year, I looked to pass lot. Now, I’m looking to shoot and handle the ball more, when the team needs it. It paid off tonight after losing Audrielle and Aylani, I was asked to play point guard. It helped for me to get to the areas I like to shoot, and I made a couple buckets in that 4th quarter. It just feels good to be undefeated
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Without several starters, Lady Hawks fall to Darrington
The Lady Hawks produced a valiant effort on the evening of December 9. In their second straight road game to the start the season, the Heritage girls played the Darrington Loggers extremely shorthanded. In fact, they were down three starters; both Lewis sisters and Audrielle Mclean.
Without their primary ballhandlers, sisters Lilly and Isabelle Jefferson were asked to step up and run the offense. Playing against a Logger’s defense consistently applying full court pressure, the sisters were regularly forced to dribble around multiple Darrington defenders just to get the ball up court. The constant pressure made it difficult for the Lady Hawks to execute their sets, let alone produce an unhindered view of the basket to attempt a shot.
Undermanned and outgunned, the Lady Hawks trailed 5-28 at halftime, and ended up losing 13-47. Isabelle led the Lady Hawks with 4 points.
Even in an emphatic loss there are always positives. With the injuries, several players got extended run. One such player was freshman Janiesha Zackuse. She scored her first Lady Hawk point with a made free throw. Something she knew made her family who made the hour-long venture to watch her very happy.
“It felt pretty good to play so much. I’m tired out now though,” admitted Janiesha post-game. “We had a lot of supporters in the stands. It’s pretty awesome to see everybody who drove all this way to watch us play.”