TUMWATER — The showdown between the top two teams in the 2A EvCo’s girls ranks — and two top-10 teams in the state — certainly qualifies as a big-time game. And as the saying goes, that’s when you need your big-time players to show up.
W.F. West’s Julia Dalan showed up Tuesday, and powered the No. 3 Bearcats to a 53-37 win over No. 9 Tumwater.
“She’s a really good basketball player, she’s really fun to coach,” W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski said. “She’s a very smart player. She was just super tough tonight, she played all but those last 30 seconds. They were doing a whole lot to try to make sure she didn’t get it, and she worked hard to really make sure she got hers.”
Dalan started the scoring on the night for the Bearcats and paced them the whole way through, finish 7 for 10 from the field en route to an 18-point performance. She rarely got the ball in the post without at least two Thunderbirds on her, and by the second half was taking on triple teams to get to the free-throw line, where she went 4 for 4 in the fourth quarter.
“That was super cool to see; that was something that we’ve been talking to her about is just to be assertive in the post, and she did a really good job of that,” Karnofski said.
On defense, the 6-foot, 3-inch sophomore made just as much of an impact, finishing with 12 blocks to cap a double-double and keep the T-Birds from getting much of anything down low.
But Dalan wasn’t the only Bearcat who showed up Tuesday. W.F. West already runs a short rotation, and after Carlie Deskins had to leave with a knee injury in the first half, Karnofski pretty much stuck with Dalan, Lena Fragner, Morgan Rogerson, Grace Simpson, and Amanda Bennett the whole way.
“Those five that were out there were just tough,” he said. “It was super cool to see. At halftime I said with where we’re at, we’d have to weather some adversity, and here it is, it’s gut-check time. That group stepped up collectively.”
Fragner put in 13 points and six rebounds for the Bearcats. Simpson scored eight points, and Rogerson and Bennett both had seven.
The T-Birds had another slow night offensively to start, mustering just seven points in the first quarter and going four minutes into the second before scoring. In the third, Tumwater went another three scoreless minutes to start, but found a bit that worked, rattling off a 13-6 run to get the gap back to 10 going into the final period.
“We did a good job of getting the ball in the middle,” Tumwater coach Nathan Buchheit said. That was the main focus for the majority of the game, and being able to create from there. We still have a lot to improve, though, but at the end of the day it’s just hitting shots.”
Regan Brewer led Tumwater with 10 points and eight rebounds, and also had five steals and two assists. Kendall Djurasic added nine points.
That third-quarter run set up a tightly-contested fourth quarter, and while the T-Birds never got the gap smaller than eight, both squads took the opportunity of a closer to get experience in end-of-game scenarios. The T-Birds fouled to extend the game, and the Bearcats went 8 for 11 at the free-throw line to seal the win.
“We had that happen up at Sehome, and we didn’t capitalize the way we should have, which was frustrating,” Karnofski said. “We talked about what you have to do at the end of a game, and this group hasn’t been in a lot of those situations until this year. “
Still undefeated in league play, W.F West will return home Thursday to take on Rochester. Tumwater will face Shelton next, on the road.
