Emerald Ridge’s furious comeback bid falls short against Eastlake, 44-43
Emerald Ridge can take some solace in the fact that the ride isn’t over.
The Jaguars were unable to assure themselves a final-day game at the Class 4A state girls basketball tournament on Thursday when Tatum Wood scored for Eastlake with 16 seconds left, lifting the Wolves to a 44-43 quarterfinal victory at the Tacoma Dome.
Nevertheless, the school’s first-ever trip to the Dome for the girls program does continue on Friday with a consolation bracket game at 9 a.m. against Richland for a place in the fourth-place game on Saturday. Eastlake will play Woodinville in the first 4A semifinal at 3:45 p.m.
“You play for the trophy. You play for the big golden ball,” Emerald Ridge coach Arvin Mosley Jr. said. “The adversity they fought through this year, with the coaching changes. Then we get the win yesterday, take it down to the wire today. It’s just phenomenal. Yeah, there were a lot of tears, a lot of emotions. But, when the season begins there’s really only a handful of teams playing for a title. The rest of us are playing for a trophy, playing for a place.”
That goal remains firmly in front of this Emerald Ridge team. But the Jaguars still were less than 30 seconds from staying in the race for the big golden ball.
To get into that position, though, took a monumental fourth-quarter against Eastlake.
Following a dismal third quarter for Emerald Ridge (18-7), during which Eastlake (23-3) turned an 18-17 halftime deficit into a 38-24 lead, the Jaguars had to find something again. That something was Kali Haizlip.
“Kali, our senior leader, the heart and soul of our team just stepped up big time in the fourth,” Mosley said. “The girls just stepped up to the plate and brought the juice that we’ve talked about all year.”
Emerald Ridge’s senior captain ignited a 9-0 run for the Jaguars over the first 2 minutes, 22 seconds of the fourth quarter that got them back into contention. She would eventually score 10 of her game-high 19 points over the final eight minutes.
“We knew this would be a game of runs,” Eastlake coach Sara Goldie said. “That team has really good players. Nine to nothing. That’s what it was? So, they made their run. But then the run kept going.”
An Ava Schmidt offensive rebound and put-back interrupted the Jaguars burst with 4:07 left. But following that Eastlake basket to make it 40-33, Emerald Ridge put together a second 9-0 spurt to wrest the lead back, 42-40, on Maya Barnett’s field goal with 2:03 to play.
Another Schmidt putback with 1:06 left tied things again at 42-42. Naomi Senato made one of two free throws with 33 seconds left to put the Jaguars in front one more time, 43-42.
On the ensuing possession, the Wolves again went inside.
Wood missed a short shot but was fouled. Then she missed both free throws. Senato rebounded for Emerald Ridge, but was immediately tied up for a jump ball. The possession arrow favored Eastlake.
The Wolves then got two Schmidt chances at the rim, but neither shot would fall. In position for a potential rebound, the ball glanced off the hands of Jaguars junior Marecia Barnett and out of bounds under the basket.
Given yet another chance, Wood capitalized with a drive and basket at the rim off the inbound play.
Mosley called timeout to set up a final chance for Emerald Ridge. The most likely person for the final shot though, Haizlip, was sitting on the bench after having fouled out on the play that led to Wood’s missed foul shots.
Senato’s off-balance 17-footer bounced off the left side of the rim as the buzzer sounded, sending Eastlake to the semifinals and Emerald Ridge into the consolation round.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 3:20 PM.