Sluggish start dooms Gig Harbor girls in 3A state loss

Seventeen turnovers in a half generally won’t result in many wins on the basketball court. Gig Harbor found that in the opening round of the Class 3A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome on Wednesday morning, losing to Lynnwood, 57-29.

Gig Harbor (20-5) had 17 turnovers in the first half and were outscored by Lynnwood (21-4) 20 to 4 in the second quarter alone. Gig Harbor trailed at the half, 32-13, and the hole proved too big to climb out of in the second half. With the loss, the Tides were eliminated from the Hardwood Classic.

“When you get to this level of basketball, your margin for error is so slim because teams are so good,” said Gig Harbor coach Megan Murray. “They take advantage of every little opportunity they can, whether it’s a turnover for a fast break or an offensive rebound for a second chance opportunity to score.”

Lynnwood made life difficult for Gig Harbor’s two leading scorers, sophomore guard Brynna Maxwell and junior forward Maddie Willett. The duo combined for 11 points in the first half. Maxwell finished with 14 and Willett tallied 12.

The rest of Gig Harbor’s roster combined for just three points.

“We were still running our sets and getting shots,” Murray said. “It was just turnovers, that’s the bottom line. The turnovers just killed us. We’ve got to take better care of the basketball.”

Lynnwood senior center Kelsey Rogers was a big matchup problem for the Tides, tallying 20 points. Fourteen of her points came in the first half.

“We knew based on film that she’s a big matchup problem,” Murray said. “Our best bet was to just make sure we keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible. In the second quarter, we just didn’t do that. Unfortunately, she kind of got on a roll. That hurt us.”

Gig Harbor’s student section showed up well for the game.

“It’s awesome to have that much support from the school, community and everyone involved with Tides basketball,” Murray said. “We’ve kind of built up the following with the girls. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way because gosh dang it, we are coming back.”

Murray admitted it was tough bowing out early, calling it a “long walk to the locker room” following the loss. Still, she told the team she was proud of their season.

“Since I’ve started here, we’ve just taken steps forward,” Murray said. “Everybody has been part of that, since our first season that we started to our three contributing seniors (Emily Shields, Katie Emery and Abby Nordquist) now. They’re a big reason why we’re here. It’s not just solely because of basketball. It’s just their level of leadership.”

BOX SCORE

LYNNWOOD: 12 20 12 13—57

GIG HARBOR: 9 4 9 7—29

Lynnwood: Rogers 20, Bell 10, K. Boston 8, Fahey 7, Rachel Walsh 5, Kirkman 3, Reilly Walsh 2, N. Boston 2.

Gig Harbor: Maxwell 14, Willett 12, Shields 2, Langworthy 1.

This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 10:16 AM with the headline "Sluggish start dooms Gig Harbor girls in 3A state loss."