By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The Tulalip Heritage girls basketball team hosted Providence Classical Christian in a mid-season battle of northwest divisional foes. Prior to tip-off at Francy J. Sheldon gymnasium, the Lady Hawks coaching staff shared what the points of emphasis have been at practice.
Head coach Katia Brown said, “We’re hoping to see our girls come out and set a good tone early, like they’ve done the past few games. Just trying to keep our pace up and keep that speed of the game consistent is what I’m hoping to see most.”
Added assistant coach Deandra Grant, “I’d like to see a lot more effort from all five girls on the court to rebound. We know, as a generally undersized team, that rebounding is that much more important to us. In our last few practices, we’ve done more rebounding drills and developed a real emphasis on going for boards as a team, not just standing in place and hoping the rebound falls to you. We also worked a lot on post-entry passes. Getting our guards more comfortable passing to our posts without turning the ball over is something I’ll be watching for.”
The pace was good in the early going, but then stalled out quickly after both Heritage guards, Aylani Lewis and Madison Sheldon, found themselves in early foul trouble and on the bench. The Lady Hawks scored their first bucket six minutes into the 1st quarter, after Lilly Jeferson went iso and splashed a much-needed jumper. Her bucket made it a 3-6 game. Several possessions later, senior forward Raylee Lewis collected an offensive board and scored a putback to make it a 5-7 game.
Because the points were tough to come by, the Lady Hawks leaned on their tenacious defense to keep them in it. No one embodied that spirit more than junior forward Omelia Frazier. With the foul trouble plaguing Heritage’s starting backcourt, Omelia got all the run she could handle. She responded by playing lockdown defense and coming up with several well-timed steals.
Senior center Molly Jones Charles also got an extended run in this game. She made a highlight play midway through the 2nd quarter when her team trailed 6-10. Molly dove on the court to grab a loose ball and, from her backside, passed it perfectly into the shooting pocket of Madison, who stood outside the 3-point line. Madison splashed in the 3-pointer, and both girls celebrated the play as they ran back on defense, now trailing by just a single point. On the next possession, Madison snagged an offensive board and scored on a putback to put the Lady Hawks up 11-10. Janeisha joined the party soon after with an offensive board of her own and quick putback. Lady Hawks led 13-10 at halftime.
In the 2nd half, the game was tied at 17-17 with two minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Aylani nabbed a board and then quickly threw it forward to Raylee, who managed to avoid multiple defenders and score a transition bucket. That bucket lit the fuse for the offensive explosion that followed.
Entering the 4th quarter, Tulalip led 21-19. Raylee would make her home in the paint and warmly welcomed any would-be defender to her domicile with buckets. Over the right shoulder, over the left shoulder, it didn’t matter. She scored 10 points in the final frame to secure Tulalip’s 36-31 victory.
Following the game, Raylee shared, “It’s difficult to explain, but in the beginning of the game I just felt off. Then, later, I just got really upset and suddenly felt like I couldn’t miss. There was even one play where it felt like I pulled off Jordan’s signature shimmy. I’m just really happy I could score when my team needed me to and that we go this W.”
While Raylee’s heroics came on the offensive side of the ball, Omelia’s came on the defense side. She admitted, “Watching my teammates get into foul trouble fired me up to get in the game and play hard for them. I was trying to take that orange ball from [Providence] whenever I could. I just kept thinking, ‘it doesn’t matter, we are going to win this game, ’ and we did. Right now, our spirits couldn’t be higher.”
Reminder to Heritage’s loyal fan base that Senior Night will be celebrated on Thursday, January 29. Celebration begins at 5:00 pm sharp for the Lady Hawks.