Bethel stuns top-ranked Prairie to advance to bidistrict championship game
To the players on the Bethel High School girls basketball team, the prospect of facing the top team in Class 3A in the WIAA’s RPI rankings didn’t cause much concern.
Taking on top-ranked Prairie in the semifinals of the 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict semifinals at Puyallup High School on Friday night, Bethel’s players weren’t intimidated in the slightest. And it showed on the court, with the Braves cruising to a 54-37 win.
“We knew we were going to win,” said Bethel sophomore guard Esmeralda Morales, who poured in 29 points and added three steals in the upset. “Not trying to sound cocky, but we knew we were going to get the win.”
Bethel (19-3) felt overlooked coming into the game. To them, they weren’t the underdogs.
“We’ve been under the radar the entire year,” Bethel coach Tim Brown said. “We all knew we were going to win it.”
Junior guard Tiarra Brown scored 16 points and tallied five steals in the win. And Bethel held Prairie’s (20-2) usually potent offense to a season-low 37 points. Before Friday’s game, Prairie hadn’t been held below 51 points in any game this season.
Tim Brown said the key to slowing the Falcons down was to pressure them.
“We did a little scouting, and we noticed that a lot of teams aren’t really aggressive on their guards,” he said. “So what we wanted to do in the second half was really to apply pressure to their point guard, push her to her left and hope she can make mistakes.”
It also meant slowing down 6-foot-2 senior center Brooke Walling, a Fresno State signee.
“We just forced her to her right (hand),” Morales said. “She’s left-handed, so we knew we had to stop the left side.”
For Bethel, it’s been a season to remember.
“All our girls get along with each other,” Tim Brown said. “Everyone helps each other out, no one puts each other down. Our bench is always supportive, our parents, our fans are always supportive. We’re really like family.”
The Braves look to keep the good times rolling in the bidistrict championship game against Belle Frazier and Peninsula at noon Saturday at Puyallup. Prairie will play Gig Harbor for the third-fourth place game at 3:30 p.m. at Rogers.
“We just have to play the same way we did today, but even better,” Morales said. “More intensity, better defense and just play our game again.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 11:36 PM.
