3AGIRLS TROPHY GAMES

SNOHOMISH 46, LINCOLN 37

These Lincoln High School girls basketball players just battled for four games in four days to do what no Abes team has done since 1980.

They were tired.

“I’m really drained,” Lincoln’s Kondalia Montgomery said. “We played as a team but it wasn’t with enough energy today.”

And that led to an offensive struggle against Snohomish in in the Tacoma Dome with the Panthers earning the 3A state third-place trophy and Lincoln taking fifth place.

Despite the loss to Snohomish and to Bishop Blanchet in Friday’s state semifinals, this is still the highest finish for Lincoln (21-8) since 1980 — when it lost to Garfield in the state title game.

Lincoln made 14 of 49 shots (28.6 percent) for the game, with A’shia Donahue scoring a team-high eight points. Faith Brantley had seven points and eight rebounds and Montgomery — the younger sister of Lincoln grad and San Antonio Stars guard Alex Montgomery — had four points and eight rebounds.

“We wanted it bad, we just didn’t have the energy,” Montgomery said. “We didn’t set the tone like we should have. We should have come out like we played in our first two games here.”

Katie Brandvold scored 23 points for Snohomish, making 5 of 8 3-pointers.

The Panthers took a 40-30 lead with four minutes to play, but Lincoln made one last rally. Montgomery scored, Lisi Brooks – a JV call-up – hit her second 3-pointer and Azallee Johnson added one more bucket to cut Snohomish’s lead to 41-37 with 1:14 to play.

Brandvold answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to seal it.

KAMIAKIN 66, LYNNWOOD 64 (OT)

Junior Chanceler Williams scored the go-ahead putback with one second left in overtime, lifting the Braves over the Royals in the tournament’s fourth-place game.

Sophomore Oumou Toure gave Kamiakin a chance for the final points with a steal with 18.5 seconds left, but her shot was off the mark. But Williams was there for the rebound and the decisive points.

Toure finished with 27 points, and scored the tying bucket with 16 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime. .

Lynnwood’s Kelsey Rogers gave the Royals a 62-61 lead with a minute left in overtime with a big basket under pressure. Lynnwood’s lead grew to 64-61.

Kamiakin’s Kiley Larsen tied it at 64-64 with a clutch 3-pointer with 22.2 seconds to play, setting up the final sequence.

Rogers led Lynnwood with a game-high 29 points and 14 rebounds, and the Royals finished sixth.

BOYS TROPHY GAMES

WEST SEATTLE 66, LINCOLN 54

For some teams, a fifth-place finish at the state tournament is a monumental success, but it wasn’t what the Lincoln Abes had in mind.

Just two days ago, the Abes still had dreams of being an undefeated state champion after winning their 26th game of the season against Seattle Prep to advance to the 3A state semifinals on Thursday.

But after falling to Nathan Hale in the semifinals, Lincoln couldn’t hang on in the third-place game, either.

The Abes led by as many as 15, but West Seattle outscored them 20-3 in the final quarter to claim a comeback victory.

“(It was) an unbelievable season,” Lincoln head coach Aubrey Shelton said. “We started 26-0, which was the best start in school history. Nobody predicted it outside of ourselves – we didn’t predict 26-0, but we knew we could be good. I don’t think we were ranked in the top 10 to start the year. We’ve got guys that bought in and believed, had played together. It’s disappointing that we end up with two losses, but that doesn’t take away from how together these guys were all year or how hard they fought and what they accomplished, so we’re proud.”

The Abes jumped out to a 25-12 lead after the first quarter and leading by as many as 15.

“The first half, we were slow (and) we were tired,” West Seattle head coach Keffrey Fazio said. “They came out ready to go. We didn’t match the intensity and we paid for that.”

West Seattle came alive in the second half, they cut the deficit to five at 51-46 at the end of the third quarter, and outscored the Abes 20-3 in the final quarter, including a 14-2 run to end the game after the score was tied at 52.

Pryor finished with 20 points in his final game for the Wildcats.

“It’s amazing,” Pryor said. Our goal was to get to state since my freshman year, senior year we did it. We didn’t go to the championship, but we got third place, so I’m very proud of that.”

STANWOOD 62, RAINIER BEACH 61

In a fast paced game, the Stanwood High School boys basketball team won a narrow victory over Rainier Beach to take fourth place, the best finish in the school’s history.

Despite the historical significance of the game, the Spartans remained cool under pressure.

“They’re a group that doesn’t show a lot of emotion either way,” Ward said. “They’re really just even-keeled, steady kids.”

Ward said the last play was designed to go to Bryson Kelley for a baseline shot, and it worked as designed: Kelley scored the final basket of the game to take the lead with 4.2 seconds left.

“We figured they’d switch screens and they’d try to take away something over the top,” said Ward. “That’s his area right there.”

Rainier Beach still managed to get a last-second shot off but ended up coming up short.

“That’d be a shame if that went in,” said Ward when asked what he was thinking at the moment. “Actually I was thinking don’t foul.”

The win was a hard fought one for the team, and Ward was proud of the team’s performance.

“Five opponents in eight days — we played the best in the state,” said Ward. “I think we showed that we belong with them and to walk out of there with that hardware, it says a lot about these kids.”

This story was originally published March 4, 2017 at 10:26 PM with the headline "3AGIRLS TROPHY GAMES."