No. 1 Bellevue girls roll No. 10 Wilson, 79-26, eliminate Rams from playoffs

Saturday night ended in a headache for Kiki Knox and tenth-ranked Wilson.

Knox, who scored a team-high 11 points for the Rams, was bumped on the head with three minutes to play in the third quarter.

“It was an intense game all the way around,” Knox said. “You could tell people were getting frustrated, but we were working hard non-stop.”

The top-ranked Bellevue Wolverines poured in basket after basket at Bellevue College to rout the Rams, 79-26, in a Class 3A state regional.

The bump that swelled up on Knox’s forehead was wrapped in ice immediately following the final buzzer.

“I’ve been wanting to play Bellevue,” Knox said. “We were hungry, we were fighting, it was just who wanted it the most.”

The loss ends Wilson’s consecutive trips to the Tacoma Dome at five.

And, to make matters worse, the Rams were without head coach Michelle Birge, who was following along at a Starbucks. Birge received a one-game suspension after being ejected from Wilson’s third-place, 65-42, loss against Prairie at the 3A West Central District tournament last weekend.

The Rams lost, 65-42, to take the No. 4 seed into regionals.

“Any time you have to walk away from your team and send them into a battle without you, it’s not a great feeling,” Birge said. “I’ve never been ejected from a game as a player or as a coach until now. The lessons were deeper.

“Especially No. 1 in the state, 14th in the nation. Plus, we’d already suffered a bunch of adversity. This was just kind of the final straw that dug us in for the season.”

And Bellevue was relentless in punching its fourth consecutive ticket to the Tacoma Dome — the Wolverines have lost to the eventual state champions in the semifinals the past three seasons.

Tatiana Streun — who scored a game-high 19 points — pushed Bellevue’s lead to 60-20 with 4:32 to go in the third quarter to ignite a running clock.

She took a pass on the baseline for an easy layup, and Wilson’s season ticked away.

“Any given night, someone had to play Bellevue,” Birge said.

Knox, a senior, took over Josie Matz’s role after the junior point guard tore her anterior cruciate ligament on Jan. 27. Matz was Wilson’s leading scorer with 20.4 points per game.

Matz is scheduled for surgery next week and is projected to be out for six to nine months.

“It’s always tough to have to sit and watch your team no matter what,” Matz said. “Sitting there you just feel helpless, there’s nothing you can do for your team. You have to sit and watch.”

And she watched as the Wolverines ran away with the win.

Bellevue finished 29 of 60 shooting (48.3 percent), led by Streun, Quinessa Caylao-Do (17 points) and Anna Wilson (14).

Knox was Wilson’s only scorer in double-digits. Erica Hamlin added another eight points. Wilson finished 9 of 40 shooting (22.5 percent).

“I can’t fault their effort or their heart,” Birge said. “They gave it their all and just fell a little short.”

With Matz expecting to return healthy, and a handful of underclassmen, Birge predicts this to be only a one-year absence from the Tacoma Dome.

“I’ll tell you, we’ll be back next year,” she said.

Mount Spokane 56, Auburn Mountainview 43: The Wildcats piled onto their 27-23 halftime lead, outscoring the Lions, 17-9, in the final period to seal a berth to the Class 3A state quarterfinals Thursday at the Tacoma Dome. Mount Spokane will find out its opponent Sunday.

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 10:05 PM with the headline "No. 1 Bellevue girls roll No. 10 Wilson, 79-26, eliminate Rams from playoffs."