Upset: Schmitz explodes in second half, leads White River past North Thurston
In what seemed to be a theme for the day on the girls court at the 4A and 3A state basketball championships at the Tacoma Dome, White River junior guard Maggee Schmitz struggled offensively in the first half, but just like many of the star players on the winning teams of previous games, Schmitz came alive in the second half to lead the 12th-seeded Hornets (19-6) over No. 5 North Thurston (20-7).
Schmitz had eight points in the first half, shooting just 1-for-8 from the field, and five of those eight points came from the free-throw line. As Schmitz struggled, the entire Hornets offense struggled, shooting 9-for-24 as a team in the first half.
Despite White River’s offensive woes, the game remained close and was tied at 23 at halftime. So when Schmitz and her teammates came alive offensively in the second half, the Rams couldn’t withstand the blow..
Schmitz finished with a game-high 28 points, shooting 7-for-10 in the final two quarters. Her back-to-back 3s to start the fourth quarter gave the Hornets a 17-point lead and all but sealed the victory.
“My shots weren’t falling in the first half the way I wanted them to,” Schmitz said. “But my teammates believed in me and my coaches believed in me and the shots ended up falling.
White River head coach Chris Gibson wasn’t surprised his star guard got it going in the second half.
“That’s what Mags does,” Gibson said. “She’s an amazing player, but she’s a better person than she is a player. She’s an amazing teammate and she works incredibly hard. She cares about her teammates and she cares about her family here. Performances like that, she’s done that here and there.”
The Hornets played the Rams on February 18 in the semifinals of the District 3 girls basketball tournament, falling 58-44. They were determined to have a different outcome on Wednesday.
“I thought my kids did a really good job of being a lot more composed this time around,” Gibson said. “They handled pressure better. I’m just really proud of my team.”
Senior Shayla Cordis led North Thurston with 23 points.
The season ends for the Rams, while the Hornets will face No. 6 Eastside Catholic at 7:15 p.m. in Thursday’s quarterfinals. It will be a tough matchup for the Hornets, as the Crusaders have a considerable height advantage.
“We’re going to grow tonight – physically were going to get taller,” Gibson joked when asked what his team will do to prepare for the Crusaders. “That’s an amazing program with some really good players. That’s the fun thing about the state basketball tournament is every day is a new day. Every opponent is a completely different gameplan and you’ve got to forget about what happened today and move on to tomorrow.”