Alexander, Beamer girls hold off Bellarmine comeback, advance to 4A district championship game

Aaliyah Alexander took care of things until her teammates found the party. Once the rest of the Todd Beamer girls basketball team showed up, it looked as though out-manned Bellarmine was destined to fade into the rearview mirror of the Titans eventual 40-38 Southwest/West Central bi-district semifinal victory at Foss High on Thursday.

The Lions just weren‘t going to go that easily.

“We need games like that,” Beamer coach Corey Alexander said. “Earlier in the year, we probably would have coughed that one up. Bellarmine is a good team. We knew they would come back and hit hard.”

The win sends Todd Beamer (22-2) into Saturday’s bi-district championship game at Puyallup High. The Titans will play Union, which beat Decatur in the first semifinal on Thursday, at 6 p.m.

Aaliyah Alexander scored the first 12 points for Beamer, and tallied 16 of the Titans total 18 in the first half as Beamer built an ugly 18-13 advantage at the half. The senior did so despite being saddled with two early fouls that forced her to sit for a large chunk of the second quarter.

“My parents (coaches Corey and Diann Alexander) are always getting on me about being aggressive,” Aaliyah Alexander said. “I did.”

Across the way, down 6-footer Caitie Burns who missed the semifinal due to school commitments, the Lions (18-5) then played the final 3 minutes, 23 seconds of the first half without floor general Julia Bordeaux after she picked up her third personal foul.

“This team has heart,” Bellarmine coach Kim West said. “But we kept our composure. We played our defense at the beginning. We were just out of sync offensively.”

Staked to that halftime advantage, the Titans opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run fueled by five points from Sharay Trotter (who finished with 10 in the quarter). Trotter finished with 13, all in the second half.

But more, Najahia Forks contributed a pair of three-pointers, and Halo Parks had a basket as Beamer extended its advantage to 12 heading into the final eight minutes, 37-25. Then when Trotter opened the fourth quarter with a three-pointer to get the margin to 15 at 40-25, it looked over.

Instead, the Lions roared back.

“They probably thought they were going to run away from us,” West said. “We thought something different. I saw it in their eyes. There was my team.”

Kaylie Steinbacher got the comeback started with a drive and layup. Riley Cusack made two free throws and a three-pointer with 4:16 to play and suddenly the deficit was single digits, 40-32.

Bordeaux, who finished with a game-high 18 points, then took over. Her last basket with 49 seconds left cut the Beamer lead to just two, 40-38.

“So proud,” West said. “It’s a one-possession game. And it comes down to the last possession.”

The Titans could have put it away, but missed three free throws down the stretch. Bellarmine got two shots to tie it or actually win it in overtime.

But Callie Stevens three-pointer with 28 seconds left was no good. And Bordeaux’s desperation drive between two defenders at the buzzer went hard off the backboard.

It was the 19th consecutive victory for the Titans, who began the season 3-2 after a non-league loss to Bethel but haven’t suffered a defeat since that night.

Alexander scored just one point in the second half, but still finished with a game-high 17 points to go with seven rebounds. She’ll have her next chance as Beamer plays for a bi-district title.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Corey Alexander said. “Let’s take care of this one, then go for the next one.”

Union pulls away from Decatur to advance

The Union Titans couldn’t shake a pesky Decatur squad, but the Greater St. Helen’s representative managed to maintain enough control for a 41-32 bi-district semifinal victory. Union advances to Saturday’s championship game against Beamer.

After a slow-scoring first half after which the Titans (19-4) led it just 13-10 at the break, each team scored 13 in the third quarter alone. That gave Union a 26-23 advantage heading into the final eight minutes.

Still leading by just those same three points, the Titans closed with a 6-0 run over the final 2:23 for the final margin, which equaled Union’s biggest lead of the game.

Abbey Kaip scored a game-high 12 points for Union. Freshman Jewel Young had a team-high 11 points for the Gators (16-7), who will play Bellarmine for the Nos. 3 and 4 spots to regionals at Mount Tahoma at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 10:54 PM.