Kentridge upends Bellarmine Prep for bidistrict title for second consecutive season behind double-doubles from Jenkins, Miller
Kentridge High School girls basketball will enter next weekend’s Class 4A state regionals as back-to-back 4A West Central/Southwest bidistrict tournament champions.
And, for the second consecutive season, the 4A NPSL champion Chargers got to lift the bidistrict trophy following a double-digit win over 4A SPSL champion Bellarmine Prep, upending the Lions late for a 75-64 win Saturday afternoon at Puyallup High School.
“It’s a great accomplishment, but it just makes me want to work that much harder,” Kentridge junior Jordyn Jenkins said. “We’re not done yet.”
Bellarmine (20-4) carried a slim lead after the first quarter — in part thanks to three Callie Stevens 3-pointers in the opening period — but a 21-point second quarter gave the Chargers (23-2) a 34-28 lead by the half.
The Lions kept Kentridge’s lead to one or two possessions for much of the second half, but the Chargers finally pulled away late in the fourth.
“This was not a defeat for us,” Bellarmine coach Kim West said. “I think that’s the hardest (Kentridge) has worked all season. We executed, we played defense.
“We fought. It’s disappointing that we lost, but we’re not defeated. We’re moving on, looking forward to state, and we’re ready for state.”
Jenkins, who completed a double-double, finished with a game-high 33 points and 13 rebounds. Her teammate Ja’Quaya Miller, a Washington signee, also had a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds, and added six assists.
Daylanie Ballena (14 points) also finished in double figures scoring for the Chargers.
Jenkins said the presence of the two well-established post players will be crucial moving forward.
“We work so well together,” she said. “It helps me and it helps her. ... It’s going to have to be a big part.”
Both Jenkins and Miller were certainly a big part of Kentridge’s win over Bellarmine, but Chargers coach Brad McDowell also praised his guards, who connected on key shots throughout the contest to keep the Lions out of reach.
“That’s what makes us as good as we are. We can go in multiple directions,” he said. “We can go guards breaking people down, we can go guards shooting, and we can obviously go with Jordyn and Quaya inside as well.
“It’s a challenge for a lot of teams, and we have to keep working on playing together and being supportive.”
“They have threats,” West said. “It’s the inside-outside game that makes for a great team. They share the ball well, they play together really well. They know who’s hot, they know who needs the ball. It’s a smart team.”
Though, McDowell did say it was good to play a tough team like Bellarmine — which the Chargers beat by seven points in their season opener in November — ahead of the state tournament, where Kentridge is considered a favorite.
“It’s huge. We need that,” he said. “There are some other teams up north that see competition at a higher level on a regular basis. We need this competition to push us and get us ready for that final step.”
Makiah Reed led the Lions with 19 points, while Julia Bordeaux added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Stevens had 16 points.
McDowell said he expects the Lions, with their balance and discipline, to be a team that will “give some people some problems going forward.”
“We fought all game, we showed composure, we showed class,” West said. “Being quote ‘No. 1’ in state, I think we scared them.”
Bellarmine (No. 6) and Kentridge (No. 3) will both remain in the top eight seeds in the WIAA’s RPI rankings entering the state regionals, meaning both are guaranteed a spot in the Tacoma Dome bracket.
Jenkins acknowledged the road only gets tougher from here for a Kentridge team that won it all in 4A two years ago when she was a freshman.
“We all just have to be smart and play all four quarters,” she said. “It’s not like the regular season where we win by 20 or 40. We have to bring it every day, every minute, all 32 minutes.”
BELLARMINE PREP | 16 | 12 | 22 | 14 | — | 64 |
KENTRIDGE | 13 | 21 | 23 | 18 | — | 75 |
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
BP – Makiah Reed 19, Callie Stevens 16, Reyelle Frazier 5, Julia Bordeaux 17, Ciara Gatpatan 7.
K – Tiffani Pham 3, Hana McVicker 3, Kiernen Denckla 7, Daylani Ballena 14, Martina Lam 5, Jordyn Jenkins 33, Ja’Quaya Miller 10.
