Bellarmine girls heat up in second half to beat Sunnyside in 4A regionals, 64-52, advance to Tacoma Dome: 3 takeaways
The Lions didn’t come roaring out of the gate against Sunnyside in Saturday’s Class 4A state tournament girls basketball regional game at Rogers High, but Bellarmine Prep eventually settled in, riding a strong third quarter to a 64-52 win.
Here are three takeaways from Bellarmine’s win, which sends the Lions back to the Tacoma Dome for next week’s Hardwood Classic state tournament, beginning Wednesday.
BORDEAUX SHINES IN TRANSITION
Bellarmine’s Julia Bordeaux, a Notre Dame golf signee, is as talented a player in transition as there is in the state. She showed that on Saturday, pouring in a 23-point effort featuring several coast-to-coast buckets. The 6-foot senior is tough to stop once she gets going and is a constant threat to attack the rim.
“Her transition game is phenomenal,” said Bellarmine coach Kim West. “She didn’t start it out in the first quarter. We’re kind of like, ‘Why isn’t Julia running?’ We were kind of getting our wheels going. But it’s very noticeable when she gets up and down the court. Everyone is looking for her and she can catch the ball and finish easy, high-percentage buckets under the rim.”
For much of the game, Bordeaux shouldered the load for the Lions, who got off to a slow start, trailing Sunnyside 15-12 at the end of the first quarter and holding onto a slim 28-22 lead at halftime.
Then in the third quarter, Bellarmine outscored Sunnyside 25-13 to take a 53-35 lead into the final period.
“Just keep our composure, run the plays how we know how to and stick to what we know how to do,” Bordeaux said of Bellarmine’s improved play in the second half. “Just keeping our cool, not starting too frantic or anything.”
EVERYTHING GOES MORE SMOOTHLY WHEN STEVENS IS HITTING HER SHOTS
Until midway through the third quarter, it wasn’t a good shooting night for Bellarmine senior guard Callie Stevens, who couldn’t seem to find the back of the net.
But her team kept encouraging her.
“She’s out of her lull,” West said. “She had a little dip in her rhythm and then you overthink it. We kept telling her we believe in her. We just had to take that ‘little guy’ off the rim for her. The floodgates come after that.”
Stevens hit a 3-pointer in the third quarter to break out her cold streak. Then another. And another. She poured in 15 of her 21 points in the second half. When Stevens is hitting from beyond the arc, it opens a lot of things up for the Bellarmine offense.
“We know she can make them,” Bordeaux said. “She’s gone off, she’s an amazing shooter, one of the best in the state. I have full confidence every time she gets the ball. It makes other defenses have to guard us outside and then we’ve got a couple pretty good posts in the middle. It makes it tough.”
BELLARMINE COULD BE A DANGEROUS 10 SEED
The Lions have veteran experience, a couple of very talented players in Bordeaux and Stevens, and a supporting cast to make a deep run into the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.
“We’re just going to take it one game at a time, win on Wednesday and see what we can get after that,” Bordeaux said.
While Bellarmine won’t get the benefit of a bye into the quarterfinals of the tournament, West said there’s maybe a silver lining to playing in the opening round on Wednesday.
“We like playing that first Wednesday game to shoot and adjust to the depth in the Dome,” West said. “We want to play Saturday.”
