McKenzi Williams, Auburn Riverside run away late to beat Wilson, advance to district title game

Derek Pegram hadn’t sweated like that all season.

And he said it was the most fun he’s had coaching in a game all season, too.

His unbeaten and fifth-ranked Auburn Riverside girls basketball team trailed by two points with about three minutes remaining, but ended the game on a 16-1 run fueled by McKenzie Williams to beat No. 10 Wilson, 54-41, on Thursday at Franklin Pierce to advance to the 3A West Central/Southwest bidistrict title game.

Auburn Riverside (23-0) will face seventh-ranked Lincoln — which beat No. 8 Prairie on Tamia Braggs’ winning shot — at 2 p.m. Saturday at Puyallup.

But Auburn Riverside hasn’t played many back-and-forth games like Thursday’s.

“That was a fun game to coach,” Pegram said. “Because we had to make some adjustments on the fly. That’s the fun part of coaching is making those adjustments. We hadn’t been in this kind of position before.”

Wilson took a 40-38 lead on Kiki Knox’s pull-up jumper.

After Olivia Denton tied it with a pair of free throws, Williams went to the races. The 5-foot-3 junior point guard — and recently crowned 3A South Puget Sound League most valuable player — scored four points in a span of about 10 seconds.

Williams scored 13 of her game-high 22 points in the fourth quarter. Her two free throws put Auburn Riverside up 46-41, but the finishing blow came on the next possession. Wilson turned it over and Williams blazed the length of the court, finished at the hoop and was fouled.

The three-point play gave the Ravens a 49-41 lead and Wilson ended the game with four turnovers on four possessions.

“All these doubters we had since the beginning of the season — people thought we were in a really weak league so we would get to the playoffs and get demolished,” Williams said. “But I have had faith in my team since the start of the season. I know that we are a great team and we were destined to be great and do great things.”

Wilson controlled most of the first half and led 22-21 at the break. Erica Hamlin scored 14 points and Knox and Kiara McMillan each had nine.

Wilson will play Prairie at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Rogers for the third or fourth seed to the regional round of the 3A state tournament.

Olivia Denton scored 18 points and Faith Turner scored 14 for Auburn Riverside.

“It’s surreal,” Denton said of the Ravens’ unbeaten record. “I was thinking about it and it’s like ‘Oh my God, this is crazy.’ My freshman year I would have never thought my junior year we would be undefeated and going to the (district) championship.”

No. 7 Lincoln 56, No. 8 Prairie 55: Just like coach Jamila Jones drew it up.

Tamia Braggs scored the winning basket in the final seconds as the Abes beat the Falcons to advance to the bidistrict title game.

Braggs banked in a layup and Prairie wasn’t able to get off a full-court heave before the buzzer.

It might not have been the biggest shot Braggs has made in her four years in a Lincoln uniform, but …

“It’s one of them,” Braggs said.

Prairie’s Grace Prom made the first of two free throws with 9.3 seconds remaining to tie the game and Jones called a timeout. He told his team to push it up the floor on a second make, which Prom calmly converted to put Prairie ahead, 55-54.

Lincoln wasted little time finding Braggs for the layup.

“It came out the way we wanted to,” said Braggs, the three-time 3A Narrows League MVP who finished with 10 points. “We executed at the end of the game and that’s all that we needed to do.”

This story was originally published February 18, 2016 at 11:33 PM with the headline "McKenzi Williams, Auburn Riverside run away late to beat Wilson, advance to district title game."