Warriors win district crown

By WESLEY REMMER

Staff writer

PUYALLUP — The King’s West Lady Warriors cut down the nets and extended their season-long win streak to 13 games, polishing off the pesky Crusaders of Shoreline Christian, 52-41, in the Class 2B district championship game on Feb. 23 at Chief Leschi High School.

The win gave KW the district title and a huge momentum boost heading into its sixth-consecutive state tournament appearance since 2003.

“We’re getting better and better every day,” said coach Bryan Hanley, adding that his team finally deviated from its postseason tendency of waiting until the fourth quarter to play with intensity.

“We accomplished a number of our goals today, one of which was to not wait until the fourth quarter,” he said.

The play was sloppy and low scoring early on — SC led 6-4 after the first quarter — but the Lady Warriors found a groove midway through the second quarter, turning a 19-10 second quarter advantage into a 23-16 halftime lead.

“We played a good, strong second quarter,” Hanley said. “Some of the players played uncharacteristically jittery early on, which was a function of them wanting to win (the game) for the seniors.”

And it was the seniors — Megan Morris and Megan Spence — who carried the KW load.

Spence, who finished with a game-high 20 points and 14 rebounds, led the KW offesnive charge, receiving help on the boards from Brielle Foley (11), Hayley Milleson (nine) and Breyenne Mosey (eight).

And while Spence burdened much of the load offensively, co-senior Morris anchored the Lady Warriors on the other end of the court, drawing the defensive assignment against SC’s leading scorer, Angela Woods.

“Megan Morris was phenomenal tonight,” Hanley said. “She shadowed Woods the entire game ... She’s a gamer.”

Morris held Woods to a modest 13 points, forcing other SC players to hit key shots late — which they failed to do.

KW followed what’s been a blueprint for success all season — solid rebounding, clutch shooting and senior leadership — en route to the victory, which snapped SC’s 10-game win streak.

The Lady Warriors survived a three minute stretch in the fourth quarter without Spence, after she picked up her fourth foul at the 6:52 mark.

“We were able to hold down the line when she was out,” Hanley said. “Our subs really stepped up.”

And despite a furious SC fourth quarter full-court press, KW held on in the game’s waning moments as junior point guard Irene Moore hit 8-of-8 from the free-throw line, including 6-of-6 in the final 4 minutes.

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