Stevens, Bellarmine girls make statement in 71-39 win over Curtis: 3 takeaways
The Bellarmine Prep girls basketball team beat Curtis comfortably at home on Friday night, 71-39, behind a strong performance from senior guard Callie Stevens. Here are three takeaways from the Lions’ win.
CALLIE STEVENS GOES OFF
For shooters, there are certain games when everything is going in — call it a groove, a zone, etc. — whatever you call it, Callie Stevens was there during the first half of Bellarmine’s blowout win, connecting on seven three-pointers in the first half, six of which came in the first quarter. She finished with a game-high 29 points, and 27 of those points came in the first half.
To put it simply, Stevens was unstoppable in the first half.
“I put in a lot of work on my shot this week,” said Stevens, a Lewis-Clark State College commit. “I was kind of shocked I had that many. I was really locked into the game at that point. That wouldn’t have happened without passes from my teammates and the screens, so I’m really thankful my teammates got me those passes.”
She can deflect credit all she wants, but Lions’ coach Kim West knows it was a special individual effort from Stevens.
“She was on fire,” West said. “She came out gunning. Confidence. There was a look in her eye where I could see she was just on. … You dream about that stuff. And then you hear our bench — it electrifies all of us. She set us one fire. It’s contagious.”
BELLARMINE GETS REVENGE
Curtis came out on top in the first meeting between the schools, with a 51-50 win on Dec. 11 in University Place. This time around, Bellarmine made sure a repeat wasn’t in order.
“Our intensity (was the key),” Stevens said. “We wanted this one. We came out fired up and passing the ball around. It was a great team win. … We didn’t have all our players last game. We played better team ball, ran our plays and were successful.
“We hit our shots more. We were making the extra pass and getting the great shot. We killed it on our fast breaks today.”
West echoed the sentiment about Bellarmine’s intensity, saying the Lions ‘handled business’ against the Vikings this time around.
“We knew what to expect,” West said. “They have a great program. We just needed to play our game. It was the beginning of the season last time, we didn’t have all our stuff in, but no excuses. Our intensity and focus was the difference.”
LIONS HAVE THE PIECES TO MAKE A RUN
Rogers (10-0 SPSL 4A) has been the league’s top dog behind UW softball commit Raigan Barrett, but Bellarmine (8-2 SPSL 4A) isn’t far behind. Stevens is instant offense and 6-foot senior forward Julia Bordeaux, a Notre Dame golf commit, is a natural athlete. She scored 14 points in the win, scoring in the paint and showing off an impressive floater in traffic, in addition to being a key member of Bellarmine’s interior defense.
Junior guard Riley Cusack scored 15 points in the win. She might be just 5-foot-1, but plays with plenty of tenacity for the Lions and gets out quickly in transition.
“We’ve always embraced being an underdog, squeaking in the backdoor and then surprising people,” West said. “We have a lot of talent and now we’re kind of gluing more. Our chemistry is great, we have fun outside of ball. That really helps carry over to the chemistry we bring on the court.”
Stevens, for her part, senses good things are coming for the Lions as postseason play approaches.
“When we’re all playing as one — we were fired up tonight,” Stevens said. “You could tell on the floor that we wanted it. I think we can go far when we play together like that. I feel like we’re unstoppable when that happens. We have more heart than anyone else out there and I think that showed tonight.”