Prep roundup: Lincoln girls continue surge; Annie Wright’s Julianna Walker scores 49 points in OT loss

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Top performer: Julianna Walker, Annie Wright

49 points in 79-67 overtime loss to Seattle Academy

CLASS 3A

No. 3 Lincoln 75, Wilson 28: Sharayah Johnson led the Abes to a win over the Rams scoring 19 points to send the Abes to 16-1.

“Our energy level was really, really high,” Lincoln coach Jamila Jones said. “It was another game at the end of the season where we’re playing 10 deep.”

That depth saw Faith Brantley also finishing the game with 16 points of her own.

“We had another great game from Brantley dominating on both sides of the court,” Jones said. “We moved her to off guard. She started off dumping it down inside but she opened up some space for wide open threes.”

Brantley would finish the game with three 3-pointers. The strong play from multiple players has the team optimistic for districts.

“Our kids don’t need to worry about energy, they trust their teammates to come off the bench. We’re able to keep doing what we do with multiple bodies,” Jones said. “I think that’ll serve us well later on. We don’t have to stress. They really trust in each other so that’s a really big deal for us.”

No. 7 Bethel 67, Stadium 20: Esmeralda Morales led the way for Bethel scoring 18 points in the game that put her team to a near perfect record of 17-1.

“We did quite well in the first half,” Bethel coach John Ainslie said. “We hit a lot of 3s and we shot the ball really well.”

That first half the Braves scored 27 in the first and 19 in the second. That largely came from shooting 8 of 14 from the 3-point line as well as shooting 58 percent in their last two games.

They will now prepare to play Lincoln, the only team they have lost to, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Lincoln with the 3A Pierce County League title on the line.

“That game means a lot,” Ainslie said.

Timberline 63, North Thurston 54: Kiara Brooks led the Blazers with 34 points to beat the Rams and fill the void left by senior Keshara Romain.

“Romain was out with the flu so Brooks had to step up,” Timberline coach Tim Borchardt said. “Rachel Huynh stepped up too.”

Huynh would finish with 15 of her own points.

“Basically the key tonight was getting back to fundamentals and having kids step up to replace Romain,” Borchardt said. “Brooks was very limited in her offensive looks at the basket. She just got her points off of hustle play.”

CLASS 1A

Seattle Academy 79, Annie Wright 67 (OT): Losing in overtime brought the Gators comeback run crashing down as the Cardinals hung on to win despite a strong performance from Julianna Walker who scored 49 points.

Those 49 were all but 18 of Annie Wright’s total points scored.

“She was just gutting it out,” Annie Wright assistant coach Dante Jackson said. “Plain and simple doing everything. She was all over the place.”

But that wasn’t enough to close out the win as the Gators couldn’t keep up the intensity into overtime.

“We battled back from 10 down to send it into overtime,” Jackson said. “We lost gas at the end. We had three of our starters foul out before overtime.”

That showed as the Cardinals outscored the Gators 17-5 in extra period to clinch the win.

CLASS 2A

Black Hills 78, Aberdeen 23: It didn’t take the Wolves long to get back on the winning track after their loss on Jan. 18 to W.F. West.

Black Hills relied on heavy doses of defense in their win over Aberdeen, holding them to single digits in three of the four quarters. Jordyn Bender led the Wolves with 16 points.

“We moved the ball really well,” Black Hills coach Mark LaBelle said. “We were really able to spread the floor and find the open man.”

BOYS BASKETBALL

Top performer: Jordan Garner, Spanaway Lake

Scored 26 points in 91-37 win over Bonney Lake

CLASS 3A

Stadium 75, Bethel 66: Davion Gaines led the Tigers with 24 points which was enough to hold off a last push by Bethel in the fourth quarter.

“Fourth quarter we had a couple freshmen in with two minutes to go,” Stadium coach Eric Overgaard said. “They kinda took their foot off the gas and Bethel kept playing to win. Bethel kinda turned the heat up.”

Gaines shot 4 of 6 from the 3-point line to give the Tigers an early lead they were able to sustain.

“Gaines kinda led the charge with our freshmen Eddie Brown distributing,” Overgaard said.

Brown would get nine points of his own when he wasn’t distributing to Gaines along with Jaden Call who also got nine points.

Lakes 71, Mount Tahoma 51: Once the Lancers went to the matchup zone in the second half against the T-Birds, everything fell into place and they were able to cruise to their first win since Jan. 5.

At halftime, Lakes led Mount Tahoma by just three points. The combination of the zone and Daeshawn Wayne leading all scorers with 24 points, the Lancers outscored the T-Birds 39-25 in the second half.

Christian Chance chipped in with 12 points. Tyler Williford led Mount Tahoma with 23 points. The T-Birds have lost their last six.

“We actually started the game strong,” Lakes coach Jordan Barnes said. “We started on a 13-0 run, but by halftime, we had to refocus. Once we switched to the zone, we were able to extend the lead from there.”

Capital 73, Yelm 47: Chris Penner led the Cougars to a win with 18 points as the team was scoring early and often.

“We came out of the gates really strong,” Brian Vandiver said. “Chris shot the ball strong early which was good for us.”

That first quarter saw the Cougars outscore Yelm 23-9 and then 21-13 in the second to give them a 23 point lead going into the half.

“The first half we did what wanted to offensively,” Vandiver said.

Spanaway Lake 91, Bonney Lake 37: It was Jordan Garner’s 26 points that helped the Sentinels win by a big margin over the Panthers.

Also scoring high was Divante Moffitt who got 23 points for Spanaway Lake.

It next faces No. 3 Lincoln on the road at 7 p.m. Friday. If Lincoln wins, it clinches the 3A Pierce County League title.

This story was originally published January 25, 2018 at 12:55 AM with the headline "Prep roundup: Lincoln girls continue surge; Annie Wright’s Julianna Walker scores 49 points in OT loss."