EVERETT — The Monroe girls basketball team was handed two incredibly tough losses Saturday afternoon.
The first was star sophomore Jadynn Alexander, who went down late in the second quarter with an injured left ankle. The second was the 4A District 1 semifinal game, which went to Snohomish 42-35 as the Bearcats struggled to find their offense in the second half.
“They came ready to play,” said Snohomish head coach Ken Roberts. “We were on our heels in the first half and they played a great first half. They kind of deserved to win. When Alexander went down, that hurt them.”
Alexander fell to the floor hard after driving to the basket with 1:58 left in the second quarter and appeared to roll her ankle. She limped to the bench and remained in the locker room at the start of the third quarter. She came out to the floor and took a spot on the bench, where she remained for the second half.
“We had everything going. But that’s sports. That’s life,” said Matt Chalfant, the Monroe head coach. “You’ve got to handle the adversity.”
Chalfant said it was “too early to tell” about Alexander’s availability for Monroe’s game against Kamiak on Tuesday. The Bearcats play the Knights at 6:15 p.m. in a loser-out game at Everett Community College.
“I don’t think it’s anything too serious, from what the Everett trainer told me,” Chalfant said. “But I know she could barely put any pressure on it. We have to get her in to our trainer to see.”
Prior to getting injured, Alexander was Monroe’s second-leading scorer at halftime with five points. Her older sister, senior Alex Alexander, led the Bearcats with 13 points and five rebounds in the contest.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Alex. She had — in my opinion — offensively, her best game of her high school career,” Chalfant said. “I really believe that. She wanted it so bad. She brought it tonight.”
But the Bearcats’ offense remained stagnant in the final two quarters, scoring just seven points to Snohomish’s 29 in the second half as the Panthers completed the comeback.
“That’s something we talked about, being mentally tough,” Chalfant said. “You’ve got to understand that they’re going to go on a run, I told them that at halftime. Snohomish is going to go on a run. But you have to be able to counteract that run and we weren’t able to do that.”
It wasn’t just Alexander’s absence that hurt Monroe (15-7 overall). Bearcats forward Amber Van Brunt fouled out with 2:46 left in the fourth quarter, which helped usher in a run by Snohomish’s Madeline Smith. The 6-foot-1 Smith scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 19 points and seven rebounds to help guide the Panthers to the district championship game against Lake Stevens at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Everett Community College.
“We did a better job in the second half,” Roberts said. “It’s not like they totally fall apart with one kid out — they’re still a good team. But they got in foul trouble and that allowed (Smith) to get going offensively.”
Snohomish (13-8) is happy to come away with the victory and is looking to continue improving as the Panthers hope to make a deep playoff push.
“It’s a win at this time of year, which is a good win,” Roberts said. “We’ve got to get better, still and Monroe deserves a lot of credit for how their kids played. … It’s a team effort and there are a lot of things that didn’t go well, execution-wise, but the kids never quit either. They played hard the whole time.
“We’re excited to not play until next Thursday. We’re excited to get to play next Thursday.”
Snohomish 42, Monroe 35
At Everett Community College
Monroe 14 14 3 4 – 35
Snohomish 9 4 14 15 – 42
Monroe–Kylee Ferreira 4, Jadynn Alexander 5, Emily Donnelly 7, Katie Piland 0, Hannah Drivstuen 2, Alex Alexander 13, Chelsea Santjer 0, Amber Van Brunt 4, Loryn Moore 0. Snohomish–Katie Bratvold 5, Morgan Marshall 0, Emily Preach 2, Darian Rielly 3, Shaylee Harwood 7, Madison Pollock 4, Madeline Smith 19, Ireland Baus 0, Bernadette Beeman 0, Ellie Flitsch 2. 3-point goals–Bratvold 1. Records–Monroe 15-7 overall. Snohomish 13-8.
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