The Auburn Riverside girls basketball team earned the right to play for the West Central District III title on Saturday, with a 59-37 dismantling of Federal Way in the district semi-finals at Puyallup High School on Tuesday.
Still stinging from a 66-63 loss to the Eagles (20-5) previously in a South Puget Sound League seeding game, the Ravens (19-6) came in knowing they had to put together a solid four quarters and return to the form that had driven the team to two consecutive 3A titles.
“This has been one of our best complete games,” Auburn Riverside coach Ed Rosin said. “We had up on the board that one of our goals was to play for 32 minutes.”
Leading after the first quarter, 17-15, the Ravens pressured Federal Way for the remaining three frames, forcing the Eagles into 21 turnovers.
In their previous meeting, Auburn Riverside was undone by its performance in the third quarter, when the girls surrendered a 15 point lead.
Tuesday, however, was a different story.
The Ravens came out of the intermission and held Federal Way to just four points while pouring in 21.
According to Rosin, who ratcheted up his vocal presence from the bench during the second half, the energy level was the key.
“We came out and made a commitment to change the focus,” he said. “We’ve had a couple games now where we came out a little slow in the third quarter. Even today, on the first couple of possessions we didn’t score. But the kids have just been responding now.”
“We’ve had a lot of adversity this year,” Rosin said, without commenting on specifics. “There have been a lot of contributing factors to that, but the kids have really rallied together. Now it’s about the team. I like how we shared the ball today. We played quality team basketball. That’s something we’ve been emphasizing and stressing all year, and the kids are finally shaking it out.”
Starting guard Mercedes Wetmore, who had 14 points in the contest, agreed.
“Today was the turning the point,” Wetmore said.
“The last few games we’ve been improving, but today was the biggest game,” senior Nicole Jackson added.
Wetmore was joined by sophomore Kat Cooper as the team’s leading scorer with 14 points apiece.
Amanda Thomson had 12 points and Nichole Jackson added eight points and eight rebounds.
Now the team will take on the top-ranked team in Washington State, Kentwood (24-0), on Saturday for the district crown.
“We want to play Kentwood, we’re ready for the next challenge,” Jackson added.
The Ravens will play Kentwood at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Puyallup High School. The winner of the game will earn the No. 1 seed into the state 4A tournament,
