KELSO — Though the Adna girls basketball team was ahead for the majority of the Tuesday night’s 2B District 4 semifinal against Toutle Lake, the Pirates just couldn’t quite put away the pesky Ducks.
Leading by just one point after both the first and second quarters, and taking just a slim two-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Pirates finally broke open the flood gates thanks to a 15-4 final frame run to dispatch the Ducks and clinch a spot in the district championship.
Toutle Lake did everything it could to limit Pirates’ star post Karlee VonMoos in the post, and though the Ducks did limit the senior forward, one of Adna’s other seniors — Brooklyn Loose — took advantage of all that attention and made the Ducks pay.
The senior scored 16 points in the first half, bailing out an otherwise lethargic first half Adna offense, and finished the game with a game-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers.
“It was a gutsy performance tonight from Brooklyn Loose,” Pirates coach Chris Bannish said. “She’s put us on her back before in those big games, and you saw it today. That kid’s a competitor and she’s flat-out not going to let us lose. She kept us in it.”
Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Pirates separated, with Gaby Guard hitting some timely buckets and VonMoos getting loose down low to pull away for the win.
At tipoff of most games, Loose doesn’t know whether she will be relied upon to be the Pirates’ fourth, third, or first option on offense, she said that team’s culture makes it easy to step into roles and hit shots when she needs to.
“All the girls on our team want it,” she said. “It’s not one person against the rest of us, we all get along and we all have the heart and want to do it for each other. Having that dynamic on our team, it’s like nothing I’ve ever been a part of before.”
Loose’s scoring, and willingness to defer to teammates and do what it takes to win on any given night, is a big reason the Pirates are playing for a district title for the first time in Bannish’s tenure as coach.
“She means everything to me and to this locker room,” Bannish said. “She’s a cool, calm, and collected customer. I don’t know if the kid feels pressure. Her confidence about the way she plays, she’s a leader in that locker room.”
Guard finished with 15 points, including three triples, and VonMoos racked up her usual double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Danika Hallom rounded out Adna’s scoring with nine points.
The semifinal victory catapults the Pirates into the regional round of state, and a district title tilt against their fiercest rivals, Napavine, in Chehalis on Saturday at 6 p.m.
The last and only time Adna played against Napavine this season, the Pirates fell at Lower Columbia College in Longview.
“We have to come out strong and not stall,” Loose said. “We can’t come out without confidence. Napavine is our rival, so it's going to be really exciting. It’s going to be exciting to get the chance to cut down the nets — it’s a once in a lifetime chance.”
