The Auburn Mountainview girls thrive on pressure.

With their backs against the wall in a loser-out consolation game at the state 3A girls basketball tournament, the Lions once again pulled out a victory by beating Lakeside of Seattle, 54-33.

The win gives No. 10 Mountainview (23-8) a shot at fourth place with an 8 a.m. showdown Saturday against No. 3 Kennedy Catholic (23-4) at the Tacoma Dome.

“We had our backs against the wall again in a loser-out (game),” said coach Chris Carr. “We should have told them it was a loser-out game yesterday.”

On Thursday, Mountainview fell 53-39 to North Central of Spokane in the quarterfinals, forcing the Lions to fight their way through the consolation bracket.

“We talked yesterday about how a lot of the time it comes down to who feels sorry for themselves the least,” Carr said after Friday’s recovery. “You have to bounce back and show some character, and I think our kids did that.”

For Auburn Mountainview, Lakeside was a familiar opponent. The Lions prevailed in the teams’ previous meeting, 38-32, back on Dec. 12.

Like their first win against Lakeside, Carr said the key today was stopping Lakeside’s speedy senior point guard Whitney Best, who averages 12.1 points per game.

“We couldn’t guard her one-on-one. We found that out quickly last time we played them,” Carr said. “We played about a minute of man-to-man and had to switch to zone.”

The scheme worked to perfection Friday, with Auburn Mountainview holding Best to just three points in the game.

The Lions were led by junior post Cait Carr, who fiished with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Junior Hattie Kosko flirted with a triple-double with 10 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Lions. Junior Aalia Braboy chipped in with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

“I think we were a little more prepared because we’d played them before and knew they were beatable,” Braboy said. “Yesterday I think we were expecting to win, rather than playing to win. But we bounced back well, so I think our confidence was higher than normal.”

Now the Lions will look to knock off powerhouse Kennedy Catholic, which defeated the Lions 70-58 at the Seamount/South Puget Sound League sub-district seeding game on Feb. 11.

“Tonight we will think and talk about Kennedy. I think we were kind of shocked the first time we played them,” Coach Carr said. “I think the whole Kennedy mystique got to us in the beginning. But now, we kind of want that rematch because we’ve played them before. Let’s see how we match up now.”

Regardless of the outcome, the Lions already will have the distinction of earning the school’s highest placing ever, besting the program’s eight-place finish in 2007.

“The bottom line is that we’re going to take home the best finish in Mountainview history, fourth or sixth,” Coach Carr said. “We’re shooting for fourth.”

Braboy added: “It’s feels pretty awesome to be up there making history for the school.”