Fourth-seeded Mount Spokane cruises by No. 2 Bethel to claim fourth-place trophy
The Bethel girls basketball team came into the state tournament with high hopes as the No. 2 overall seed in the 3A tournament, but the loss of freshman star Alyssa Smith to injury earlier in the season left the Braves without the third scoring option that they needed against the state’s better teams.
It caught up to them in the tournament, as the Braves (24-3) went 1-2 and were forced to settle for a sixth-place trophy. Bethel lost to No. 4 Mt. Spokane on Saturday morning in the fourth/sixth-place game.
“I think it was really big,” junior guard Esmeralda Morales said of the loss of Smith. “Just another 10 rebounds and 15 points. That’s what we’re missing. We wish we had her, but next year we’re going to have her and it’s going to be a different story.”
Nowhere was the loss of Smith more evident than in the Braves’ quarterfinal loss to No. 9 Garfield on Thursday. Morales and senior guard Tiarra Brown combined to score all but two of Bethel’s points in that game. Still, the Braves bounced back with a win over No. 5 Shorecrest on Friday to secure a trophy.
“We knew we were going to do good in state,” Morales said. “We wanted to get first. We wanted to get the big trophy, but it was a good experience. Next year, we’re going to come hard. We know how it feels, and just go get that No. 1.”
Morales had a game-high 17 points against the Wildcats, shooting 8-for-16 from the field. Brown added 14 points in her final high-school game.
The Wildcats (21-4), as they were for much of the tournament, were balanced on the offensive end. Four players scored in double figures, led by junior Gracey Neal, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds as her team secured the fourth-place trophy.
“Normally this year, that’s been the case,” Mt. Spokane head coach David Pratt said. “Balanced scoring, for sure. I think our leading scorer scored 14 (per game), and that’s Emma (Main), and then we had several kids in double figures most of the season. I think that’s the way we play. We don’t have that focus where we have to get one person the ball, unless someone gets hot and then we will. The balanced scoring, I think, helps us win games.”
Mt. Spokane jumped on Bethel early and led 19-7 after the first quarter. The rest of the game was played relatively even, but that first quarter helped keep the Wildcats comfortably ahead throughout.
“We talked about it in the locker room, ‘Let’s end on a win,’” Pratt said. “We talked about it yesterday, ‘The loss on Thursday is over. We can pack it up and go home, or we can take a trophy home and end on a win.’”
At Tacoma Dome
Mt. Spokane- 19 14 16 12 - 61
Bethel- 7 13 12 13 - 45
Mt. Spokane – Emma Main 13, Gracey Neal 14, Jayda Noble 11, Destiny Kamalu-Vargas 0, Kyara Sayers 12, Jaimyn Sides 2, Bryten Gumke 0, Whitney Browning 0, Sophia Bertotti-Metoyer 2, Tia Allen 7. Bethel – Esmerelda Morales 17, Nakima Miller 0, Amanda Wilkins 8, Tiarra Brown 14, Passion Johnson 0, Rhiannon Davies 2, Ayumu Mori 0, Alyvia Cagel 0, Talya Phillips 2, Samantha Hill 0, Alyssa Smith 0, Faith Taula 2.