By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
After falling to Lopez Island in the opening round of the District 1B playoffs, the (7-12) Tulalip Heritage girls basketball team found themselves in high stakes matchup with Shoreline Christian. How high were the stakes? Loser-out high.
Fortunately, the pivotal game was played at home, at Francy J. Sheldon gymnasium, on Saturday, February 7. With the home crowd cheering them on, the Lady Hawks took to court eager to extend their season.
“We’ve been working hard at practice in anticipation of this game. Our top priority has been getting everyone on the same page defensively,” explained head coach Katia Brown. “Our defense, especially in transition, hasn’t been good enough lately. So, we’ve decided to implement a 1-3-1 defense in the hopes of filling those holes. It’s a work in progress, but the girls have been adapting to it well.”
There’s nothing quite like the pressure of a playoff game to motivate a team to buy in. And that’s exactly what that Lady Hawks did in an impressive showing against Shoreline. For starters, the new defensive strategy caught their opponents completely off guard. Shoreline only mustered a single point, from the free-throw line, in the 1st quarter. The Lady Hawks led 8-1 after one quarter and 16-6 at halftime.
In the 3rd quarter, the Lady Hawks offense got going. Timely buckets by Aylani and Raylee Lewis, Janeisha Zackuse, and Omelia Frazier put Tulalip ahead 28-10 with mere minutes remaining. They’d go on to win the game 35-17, earning not just the W but an additional game in these playoffs.
Aylani led all scorers with 11 points, while Madison added 9 points. Multiple Lady Hawks had 3+ steals. Omelia had an astounding 8 steals by herself, which punctuated how effective a properly played 1-3-1 defense can be.
“I know I’m not that great at offense, so I make up for it with defense. My coaches trust my instincts to go for the ball and it paid off big today,” said Omelia postgame. “We knew this was a loser-out game and we didn’t want to be out. We said we were going to win this game and we did.”
Her fellow Lady Hawk, Janeisha, added, “This win really means a lot. We didn’t want the season to end, especially not with a loss here at home. We played all out. I’m really proud of our team.”