TUMWATER — In the midst of watching her teammate be helped off the court and facing three-plus minutes of more basketball, Sydney Sumrok had a flashback moment.
A year ago, she had to step …
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TUMWATER — In the midst of watching her teammate be helped off the court and facing three-plus minutes of more basketball, Sydney Sumrok had a flashback moment.
A year ago, she had to step into the point guard spot for the Tumwater High School girls basketball team and filled in admirably. The senior was put in the same spot on Tuesday night.
“It kind of gave me flashbacks,” Sumrok said. “We had to do what we had to do to win. Put everything aside, just play basketball.”
The 5-foot-7 guard put together three minutes of standout moments.
Sumrok scored the final seven points for the Thunderbirds in the second overtime frame to completely dig out of an early hole and secure a 49-47 victory over Thurston County rival Black Hills in a vital Evergreen Conference showdown at Black Hills High School.
Since going through a six-game skid, Tumwater has won back-to-back league games to put itself in prime position to avoid a pigtail game in the Class 2A District 4 tournament.
“Those girls just did a great job of fighting,” T-Birds head coach Nathan Buchheit said. “This is why you play basketball. This is a rivalry game and it means something to both teams.”
Sumrok’s late heroics played a major role.
She tied the game at 44 and 46 before converting a layup in the final minute to put Tumwater (4-9, 2-1 EvCo) ahead for good. In regulation, she made three field goals over 32 minutes.
Sumrok equaled that output in the second four-minute stanza alone.
“We went through a lot of adversity in this game,” Sumrok said. “I’m really proud of us. Best moment of my life.”
Black Hills forced a turnover with 18 seconds to go down 48-47. It called a timeout with 7.3 left with an inbound underneath the basket forthcoming.
A shot from Ellie Johnson over Tumwater’s 6-1 post Dakota Cahill was long and Sumrok made one free throw to ice the win and send the Thunderbirds into a frenzy.
Wolves head coach Herb Guscott stated the final play was “in scramble mode.”
“Believe it or not, I told Tyler (Venable) if (Reece Brewer’s) back is turned, if you have a shot, hit it off her butt,” he said. “She said it wasn’t quite there. They just ran out of gas.”
It took Tumwater outbursts of 5-0 and 6-0 to climb out of a halftime deficit and enter the final frame tied at 32. Down five, Sophomore Anden Demaris banked in a triple with 1:22 remaining in the fourth and Reece Brewer scored inside to send the contest to overtime.
Black Hills’ Natalie Buchanan buried a wing 3-pointer with 80 seconds remaining to give it a 40-37 lead. Then Tumwater’s Raygen Cooper knocked down a contested trifecta with a hand in her face to keep the game going.
Cooper was the player that took a fall and had to be helped off. It took the Thunderbirds a bit to regroup.
“It gave us a breather there, got us reorganized,” Buchheit said. “We always try to play for each other.”
Tumwater battled foul trouble seemingly all night – two starters fouled out and three others had at least three fouls – but it didn’t matter. Buchheit played everyone and mixed rotations to keep his group in the game.
Sumrok paced the T-Birds, who trailed by as many as eight in the first quarter, with 14 points while Cooper and Brewer added nine apiece. Cahill hauled in a team-high nine boards.
“This was a much-needed win,” Sumrok said. “We’re out for blood.”
The Wolves (6-6, 0-3) dominated the glass behind double digit rebounds from Buchanan (14) and Cassidy O’Reilly (10). Johnson ended with nine boards. Many of them were on the offensive glass, but the second chance points were few and far between.
Black Hills finished the final two quarters of regulation and the two OT frames a combined 6-for-42 from the field. Leading scorer Tyler Venable didn’t make a 3-pointer, held to seven points.
“It is situational basketball, when you’re up five with two minutes to go, up three with 20 seconds to go, you gotta know how to close the deal,” Guscott said. “We had multiple chances.”
Both teams will continue league play on Friday night. Black Hills takes on Centralia with the winner getting EvCo victory No. 1 on the season and Tumwater faces Aberdeen.