By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Tulalip Heritage girls basketball team hosted the Lummi Blackhawks at Francy J. Sheldon gymnasium on Monday, January 5. Lummi came into the game riding a 7-game winning streak, while the Lady Hawks had lost 4 of their 5 and were looking to right the ship.
In the early going, the game was played at a frenetic pace by both teams. There were shots galore, but they weren’t finding the nylon. Two minutes into the opening quarter, Lilly Jefferson found a cutting Madison Sheldon who converted a layup for their first basket of the game. Tied, 2-2, midway through the 1st, the tide would abruptly turn when the Blackhawks got it going for 3-point range. What was once a 2-2 game quickly turned into a 3-21 game, then 5-33.
The deficit continued to grow as Lummi showed why they are a State Championship contender with multiple all-area players on their roster. The scoreboard didn’t deter our Lady Hawks though. They continued to play their hearts out and exerted tremendous effort in their attempts to execute the plays being called out by their coaching staff in the 2nd half.
Ultimately, the Lady Hawks lost by a wide margin, 18-78. Aylani Lewis led the Lady Hawks with 7 points. Madison Sheldon added 4 points and Hayleigh Enick, off the bench, notched a 3-pointer.
After the game, senior co-captain Raylee Lewis shared her insights. “It was honestly pretty nerve-racking,” she admitted. “One, because it’s always difficult to be in a situation where we know we aren’t going to measure up to our usual expectations, because Lummi is really, really good. And two, we had so many people show up to the game, our Tulalip families and our Lummi families, who were so excited to see us play one another, so there was additional pressure to perform well.
“Even though the game didn’t go how we’d have liked, there are still some positive takeaways. Like, each one of us knows there are things we can do to get better and improve and those things were magnified today. So, if we focus on those things and continue working towards improving as individual players and as a team, it can only benefit us in the long run.”
Such self-reflection is what makes this latest iteration of Lady Hawks basketball so enjoyable. Even in blow-outs, they do their best to remain positive and look for silver linings.
Assistant coach Deandra Grant knows all too well what it’s like to play in pressure-filled games versus Lummi. She played many such games during her tenure as a Lady Hawk. “As coaches, we knew what kind of competitive atmosphere it would be, especially with Lummi being as good as they are this year. But explaining and preparing our girls for it is difficult because you can’t replicate that kind of energy. But once the game started, everyone knew it was different.
“We’ll be seeing them again down the line and now we know what areas we really need to work on in order to compete with them,” she added. “Rebounding and transitional defense are the two areas that really come to mind. We’ll continue to emphasize these parts of the game in practice and continue to improve week by week.”