Evergreen Lutheran girls survive, 35-34, to return to 2B quarterfinals

Katelyn Schwartz is a true basketball caper.

It takes instinct to swipe entry passes, backdoor feeds and backward bounce passes. She has it.

And when she gets it, she has the sprinter’s speed to go the distance.

Schwartz broke open a tight game by herself midway through the fourth quarter, lifting fifth-ranked Evergreen Lutheran to a 35-34 victory over Selkirk in the regional round of the Class 2B state girls basketball tournament at Mount Tahoma High School.

The Eagles (20-2) will return to the state quarterfinals for a second consecutive season. They went two-and-out in 2015.

But it is a good sign that Evergreen Lutheran can win close games when its top scorer — senior Emily Holder — is held in check. Holder, who averages 20.2 points per game, scored a season-low seven .

Schwartz picked up the slack. She tallied seven points in a 2:02 span in the fourth quarter.

The last one was vintage Schwartz, who took off as soon as she saw a pass go backward to a waiting Whitney Dawson.

Schwartz knocked it away, sprinted down the left sideline — and made the basket even after being slammed hard by Selkirk’s Jenna Couch.

“(Coaches) tell me to watch their eyes,” said Schwartz, who led all scorers with 13 points. “And God blessed me with some speed.”

She converted the three-point play, and the Eagles led 31-23 with 4:32 to go.

“I just tell her to be aggressive, to anticipate and take some chances because she has the speed to recover,” Eagles coach Nick Trebesch said. “She was huge.”

Couch did her part for the Rangers by scoring seven points in the fourth quarter. Her two free throws cut it to 35-34 with 7.8 seconds to go.

Holder was fouled, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 5.3 seconds remaining. Selkirk got the rebound, but could not advance it out of backcourt.

Evergreen Lutheran return to the 2B quarterfinals despite graduating five key seniors. Only Holder and her sister, Jessie, played on last year’s state-bound squad; Schwartz was out with a right thumb injury.

Holder can play anywhere from point guard to center — and is versatile enough to play up top and at the bottom of the Eagles’ zone defense.

“Not a lot of teams early this season had an answer for her,” Trebesch said. “But Selkirk did everything they could to take her out of the game.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Evergreen Lutheran girls survive, 35-34, to return to 2B quarterfinals."