Fife girls struggle to find offensive rhythm in 2A regional loss to Liberty, 46-27
The Liberty girls basketball team came into Friday’s regional round of the state tournament as the No. 15 seed with a 17-7 record – neither mark too flashy.
For those overlooking the seeding or the record, look no further than the league the Class 2A Patriots play in to know that neither tell the whole story. In the Kingco, Liberty plays against mostly 3A schools, something that obviously helped them be battle-tested for their meeting with No. 10 seed Fife in Friday’s loser-out contest.
The Patriots (18-7) outscored the Trojans 19-4 in the third quarter on the way to a 46-27 win, earning them a trip to Yakima to face the loser of No. 2 Ellensburg and No. 7 W.F. West in a loser-out game on at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
“We talked about it all season,” Liberty head coach Jamie Prescott said. “Almost all of our nonleague (games) were against 4A teams. We kept talking, even as we were losing those games that were pretty close, that they were going to prepare us to be able to show up at the end of the season.”
Fife was outscored by a total of four in the first, second and fourth quarters, but the third quarter helped the Patriots turn a close game into a runaway.
“We were getting the same looks in the first half,” Prescott said. “We opened up and were hitting some, and then we had a lull. We just talked about keeping with the gameplan and keep executing. We’re going to get the looks and were just going to knock them down.”
It was a disappointing end for the Trojans (21-5), who won their first 12 games of the season and 16 of their first 17, but first-year head coach Alec Elliot was proud of what his girls accomplished.
“I have nothing but love and respect for my kids,” Elliot said. “I think we played this underdog mentality and worked our butt off the whole year. I think we beat a lot of our expectations. I think we ran into an off night and a really motivated good team, but that doesn’t change my opinion about the girls. Being in my first year here, I was kind of warned about taking this job, but there is nowhere else I would rather be. These kids are amazing.”
Fife sophomore Torree Thomas led all scorers with 19, but none of her teammates had more than four points. Liberty was much more balanced on offense, with three players finishing in double figures. Junior Brooke Pedersen led the Patriots with 18, junior Devynn Warns had 12 and sophomore Makenna Vermeulen added 11. Pedersen scored eight of her 18 in the third quarter when the Patriots were able to separate from the Trojans.
While the offense of the Patriots started clicking in the second half, the Trojans struggled to get things going with the basketball all night long, never scoring more than eight points in a quarter.
“We knew what to expect,” Prescott said. “We made sure than we were in every possession and we knew exactly how we wanted to play each girl. I thought our kids did an excellent job of executing what they were expected to.”
At Rogers High School
Liberty 10 9 19 8 - 46
Fife 8 7 4 8 - 27
Fife – Nina Green 0, Breanna Hernandez 0, Zoie Breland 4, Torree Thomas 19, Aliya Hunter 2, Ella Steimle 0, KayKay Wise 2, LinnDee Kangas 0, Karina Herrera 0, Brynna Nixon 0, Alana Helsel 0. Liberty – Karli Hughes 0, Grace Moawad 3, Makenna Vermeulen 11, Devynn Warns 12, Brooke Pedersen 18, Reese Tappan 0, Ella Lamp 0, Cassidy Griffith 0, Amaya Martin 0, Alexis Conaway 0, Alexi Sparrow 2.