SPOKANE — Though the No. 5 Adna girls basketball team couldn’t pull out a win in its season finale in the fourth/sixth-place game at the 2B state tournament at Spokane Arena Saturday morning, the Pirates don’t have too much to lament in 2023.
For the first time in 11 years, the Pirates are bringing a sixth-place trophy back to Adna, after falling to No. 6 La Conner, 52-46, Saturday morning.
“We have established a culture here on community, having fun when you can but being serious when you need to be,” Pirates coach Chris Bannish said. “These seniors started with me in eighth grade. I’ve had them for five years. We all put everything aside for this group over the summer, and they chose in the spring to do everything they could to get better, and it showed.”
Saturday morning, a day after a buzzer-beating completed a 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter, the Pirates were on the reverse end of a thriller, giving up a 23-11 run in the fourth quarter after holding a 10-point lead.
The Pirates were hanging on by a thread when senior post Karlee VonMoos fouled out in the final minutes, and without their primary scorer down low, the Pirates had a hard time keeping up with Ellie Marble and La Conner.
“I thought we did a really good job in the first half,” Bannish said. “But then in the fourth we lost what got us to that point. We lost assignments. When Karlee went out our assignments changed a lot. Once we lost Karlee, we lost our edge a bit, it killed us.”
VonMoos finished with a team-high 14 points and had four rebounds in her final basketball game as a Pirate, fellow senior Brooklyn Loose scored five points and Natalie Loose scored two points and recorded a steal.
“It’s gonna hurt to see those three go,” Bannish said. “We’ve been here for a week and there hasn’t been an argument. They’re respectful, they have fun, but at the same time they’re serious. It’s the first group I’ve had that’s had true leadership at the top. I felt like I had a coach on the floor, they always listened. They were amazing, they led by example.”
Danika Hallom added 11 points, Gaby Guard scored 11 with three rebounds and two steals, and Kendall Humphrey had three points and four assists.
The Pirates’ sixth-place finish is their highest since 2012, and just the third time ever Adna has earned a trophy at the 2B state tournament as a program.
