A second half surge unveiled by the Bellevue Wolverines girls basketball team proved to be too much to handle for the Mercer Island Islanders in a battle between Class 3A juggernauts on the hardwood.

Bellevue outscored Mercer Island 37-21 in the final 16 minutes of regulation, earning a 59-41 win on Feb. 6 at Bellevue High School in Bellevue. Bellevue improved its overall record to 17-3 including a perfect 12-0 in Class 3A KingCo league play. The Wolverines have won 10 consecutive contests and had already clinched the KingCo 3A regular season league title before they took the floor against the second place Mercer Island squad.

The Islanders kept the game close in the first half before the Wolverines took over in the third and fourth quarters. Bellevue led Mercer Island 22-20 at halftime. The paltry two-point lead got the attention of the Wolverines during the halftime intermission.

“We just needed to step up our defense,” Wolverines junior guard Shelby Cansler said. “We know that defense is our strong suit and is what creates our offense. In the first half we weren’t playing great defense. We just kept hustling in the second half and just got done what we needed to do.”

Cansler finished with a game-high 20 points against Mercer Island. Bellevue head coach Leah Krautter admitted her team had a case of the nerves before taking the floor. Mercer Island High School and Bellevue High School are separated by a mere five miles and the Wolverines consider the Islanders to be one of their top rivals.

“We talked in the locker room about how we haven’t lost at home this year and how this was a big game for us as far as keeping an undefeated KingCo season,” Krautter said. “We started off the game a little jittery. We tried to do too much and played too fast in the first half. We just had to slow down and play our game. We ended up playing a lot better in the second half.”

Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com