With just over four minutes remaining in the second quarter in a 2A District 4 Tournament Elimination Game, Tumwater trailed Ridgefield by 15 points and Sydney Sumrok hadn’t scored a point.
Just over thirteen game minutes later, Sumrok had 24 points, and the T-Birds had taken their first lead of the night.
“I knew that this was win or go home and this could be my last game,” Sumrok said. “I kind of flipped the switch. I knew I had to start getting downhill and start making shots. Shots started falling, lanes started opening, and I was able to just start going.”
Sumrok was able to will the Thunderbirds back into the game, but they weren’t able to complete the comeback, and their season came to an end with a 57-50 loss.
“She gave it her all,” Tumwater coach Nathan Buchheit said of Sumrok. “Her run she was able to go sparked us back into things.”
Sumrok was unstoppable during that stretch, as she scored 24 of Tumwater’s 30 points, including four threes, to flip a 27-12 deficit into a 42-38 lead.
Tumwater flipped the switch defensively too, limiting the Spudders to just 11 points in over a 15-minute stretch.
Buchheit and the T-Birds made sure to hone in on Madison Ingham, who scored 13 points in the first 10 minutes of the game, but didn’t register another point throughout the rest of it.
“We made some adjustments, and it was able to affect things and get us back into the game,” Buchheit said. “Just proud of the girls.”
Ingham had control early, Sumrok took it for a majority of the middle of the game, but Ridgefield’s Sava Chanda saved her best for last to seal the deal for the Spudders.
Trailing 42-40, Chanda gave the Spudders the lead with a three, and two minutes later, she hit back-to-back threes to push Ridgefield’s lead from two to eight with less than three minutes to play.
“I think it’s a little bit of the law of averages,” Buchheit said, referring to Ridgefield’s middling stretch in the middle of the game. “That hurt.”
Chanda finished with 22, Ingham ended the night with 13, and Josie Hicks added 11, including a fourth-quarter three of her own.
It was Sumrok who left the gym as the game’s leading scorer, though, as she finished the night with a career-high 27.
After the game, Sumrok said it had been her goal throughout high school to clear 20, and the closest she had gotten was earlier this season when she scored 18 at Centralia.
It was a storybook ending for her T-Bird career, one that began when she moved to Tumwater from Northern California before her sophomore season.
“It really established friends and a family for me that I never thought I’d have,” Sunrok said. “It has really been the foundation of my time here. I appreciate all the girls on this team, I appreciate Nate (Buchheit), and I appreciate everyone who got me here.
“I think we ended on a high note,” she continued. “I’m really proud of what me and these girls have done this entire season.”
Sumrok is one of three seniors graduating this spring, along with Dakota Cahill and Morgan Simmons.
Buchheit took a moment to recognize all three, mentioning how much they’ve meant to him since he became the team’s coach three seasons ago.
“They got to be a part of something exciting,” Buchheit said. “Just very appreciative of all three and what they mean to the program. I think they know this, but I got their back with whatever they have down the road. I’m looking forward to seeing the success that they have beyond their high school days.”
The rest of the team, which finishes the season 8-15, is expected back, including Reece Brewer, Anden Demaris, and Kamryn Wilson.
“The girls fought hard,” Buchheit said. “Very proud of how they never gave up, kept competing and worked hard. That can take you a long way in life.”
