Girls Basketball: Fourth-Quarter Comeback Lifts Lakes Over Yelm in Elimination Game, 43-39

The Lakes girls basketball team pulled off a surprising fourth-quarter comeback one day after the defending 3A state champion boys squad surrendered a 14-point lead in the second half against Lincoln.

Facing elimination in a West Central District contest at Franklin Pierce High School, Lakes (18-3) surged during a Tornado disaster for a 43-39 victory on Wednesday night.

Lakes freshman Olivia Crawford scored a game-high 13 points on a night when the Lancers' top scorers (Aubre Mitchell and Anitaka Knight) combined for the same point productivity.

"I felt like we were falling apart on offense," Crawford said. "So I had to do something to get us pumped up."

The Tornadoes were a disaster in the fourth quarter. After Jessica Amundsen scored a layup on an inbound turnover—giving them a 37-30 lead with more than 7 minutes remaining—Yelm's offense collapsed.

They missed every free throw in the fourth quarter, allowing the Lancers to crawl back into the game. Lakes sophomore Kaitlyn Soriano scored her only bucket but it gave the Lancers a 36-37 lead with 5 minutes in the game.

Lakes, on the other hand, converted five of its free throws, including one by Knight, giving the Lancers a two-possession lead with seconds remaining in the game.

"I know I missed a lot in the beginning but I knew that one really mattered," Knight said.

The district contest was Yelm's to lose. They opened up the game with back-to-back 3s and read Lakes' motion offense without trouble throughout the matchup. McKenzie Devore scored a team-high 12 points.

Lakes head coach David McEachern said his team had to weather Yelm's up-tempo style-of-play.

"We had to push through their runs," McEachern said. "Eventually we caught up with them and they couldn't finish in the fourth quarter."

Crawford felt like she did something big to help advance her team in the playoffs.

"It means so much because I know how hard these seniors have worked," she said. "I feel like if I can contribute, I'll feel like I've done something, something big."

If the Lancers thought beating Yelm was an uphill battle, their next game will be like climbing Mount Everest. Lakes travels to Vancouver on Friday to play top-ranked Prairie (19-1) at 8 p.m. at Hudson Bay High School.

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Box Score

Lakes     11    8   11   13 —43

Yelm      14    6   15    4  —39

Lakes: Aubre Mitchell 7, Kaitlyn Soriano 2, Anitaka Knight 8, Tyanna Barton 9, JaMesha Holland 4, Olivia Crawford 13.

Yelm: Jaynani Cababat 5, Jessica Amundsen 6, Halie Prather 5, Anushka Maldonado 6, McKenzie DeVore 12, McKaiela Tyler 4, Jaedyn Enlow.