TUMWATER — When Cadynce Lee was taking some shots from beyond the arc in warmups, she barely missed. That’s happened a handful of times this season.
Yet it rarely translated to game action.
“I haven’t ever been an outside shooter, but I hit one every so often,” Lee admitted.
From a little fortunate bounce to a deep heat check, the Tumwater High School girls basketball junior was en fuego on Wednesday night.
Lee canned five 3-pointers on her way to a game-high 23 points and the catalyst to a dominating 54-32 performance by the Thunderbirds in dispatching of R.A. Long in a Class 2A District 4 pigtail contest at home.
Once upon a time, Tumwater sat at 2-9 on the season. This version of Coach Nathan Buchheit’s squad – one much younger and brimming with confidence – gets a significant test in Woodland on Friday night in a district quarterfinal.
Still, the Thunderbirds are at minimum two wins away from a state tournament appearance.
“If we play really good basketball, there’s some balance in trying to navigate our way to regionals,” Buchheit said. “Take advantage of our opportunities.”
Lee’s sudden 3-point shooting aided the offense. She banked in her first trifecta from the corner and felt good enough to bury the next two in rhythm. Her fourth, a pull-up from well behind the line, was nothing but net.
And her fifth? Another heat check.
“This was definitely my game,” Lee stated. “If that didn’t go in, I probably would have backed off a little bit.”
The right-hander was averaging just north of three points per game in the regular season for the T-Birds (8-13). Buchheit always felt Lee was “capable” of producing at the level she did in the postseason opener.
“She stayed consistent and in practice, she was getting confident," Buchheit said. “Our team is balanced. I trust our girls and it is plug and play on what the right rotations are.”
Tumwater jumped out of the gates firing on all cylinders with seven triples to lead 24-2 after the opening eight minutes. It forced several turnovers and R.A. Long (6-15) never could get into an offensive flow.
Lumberjills head coach J.D. Ott didn’t mince words after the final horn.
“They were hitting everything and we couldn’t get anything to drop,” Ott said. “There was a lid on the basket for us and that basket was three times wider for them. We didn’t expect that well of shooting, but we respect every team and their ability to shoot the ball.”
The final three quarters was a dead even 30-30 score.
There were instances of the Thunderbirds losing a little grip and R.A. Long started to hit shots, but it was a case of too little, too late.
Even Buchheit wasn’t thrilled with the majority of the final stanza and called a full timeout with 2 minutes, 58 seconds remaining in the game.
“At some point, you start thinking about the next one, not to diminish your opponent that night,” Buchheit said. “We had to create some sort of momentum rolling into Woodland. We had to make sure we’re staying locked in.”
Sydney Sumrok was the second-highest T-Bird scorer with seven points while Raygen Cooper added six. They finished with eight different girls notching a made field goal. R.A. Long was paced by Alauna Brown and Briana Garwood each with 13 points.
One of the obstacles Woodland presents is one of the best players in the district in sophomore Kennedy Bockert. The 6-foot post has been a matchup nightmare, but Tumwater has seen its fair share of dominant forwards in the league.
And even in the non-league. The T-Birds have had to defend Julia Dalan, Ellie Johnson, Hayden Kaut and Bailey Chapman.
“We want to make it as far as we can,” Lee said. “Our team feeds off energy and I think we can pull it out.”
