Not even a 68-66 loss to the Bishop Blanchet Braves in the Class 3A girls state basketball tournament third place/fifth place game on March 7 at the Tacoma Dome could dampen the spirits of Bellevue Wolverines forward Tatiana Streun.
The Wolverines, who had a goal of winning the Class 3A state championship, may not have attained their ultimate dream, but Streun and the Wolverines left Tacoma with their pride intact and a fifth-place finish.
“We’re definitely sad because we know we could had done better. It is just disappointing because we had so much talent and it just didn’t work out the way we wished it would have,” Streun said. “Sometimes things just don’t work out. You have to look at the bright side. We had a great season and we all played very well together. It was great. It was hard to lose this last game but we’ll do better next year.”
Streun finished with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. The Wolverines had a chance to take the lead after regaining possession of the ball with 12.1 seconds left in regulation, trailing 67-66. The Wolverines put the ball in guard Mandy Steward’s hands. Steward dribbled up the right side of the floor before hoisting a shot from the baseline toward the hoop with two seconds left on the clock. Bishop Blanchet’s defense swarmed Steward and the shot was off the mark. The Braves added one more free throw on their ensuing offensive possession, preserving a third-place finish courtesy of a 68-66 victory.
Bellevue head coach Leah Krautter said the game plan was to be aggressive on the final offensive possession of the game.
“We knew they were in the bonus. We just basically wanted to attack the basket and see if we could get a lay-up off of it or a foul call. It just wasn’t there,” Krautter said.
Krautter was proud of her team’s resolve not only at the state tournament but throughout the entire 2014-15 season.
“It’s tough to end the season like this because it doesn’t show or define the kind of season we had. I’m really proud of the way we fought. We gave it everything we had,” she said.
Lynnwood dominates Bellevue in semifinals
The Lynnwood Royals’ stalwart defense presented a plethora of problems for the Bellevue Wolverines in the Class 3A semifinals on March 6 at the Tacoma Dome.
Lynnwood, who limited Bellevue to just 10 field goals in the contest, cruised to a 63-37 victory to advance to the Class 3A state championship game. Bellevue scored just six points in the second quarter. Lynnwood held Bellevue’s dynamic duo of Shelby Cansler and Steward to a total of 13 points.
“We were focused on Shelby (Cansler) and Mandy (Steward),” Lynnwood head coach Everett Edwards said. “Those were the two players we hoped to pay extra attention to and we did that. We knew those were their two leaders in terms of scoring the basketball and we wanted to limit their scoring.”
The loss against Lynnwood dashed Bellevue’s aspirations of winning a state championship.
“This one hurts really bad,” Krautter said. “We have been here (state tourney) three years in a row, so we will figure out how to get over it. It just wasn’t our day.”
