Meadowdale girls overcome 4th-quarter slump

By Chris Trujillo

Herald Writer

TACOMA – The Meadowdale Mavericks fought through a fourth-quarter meltdown Friday afternoon to win their second loser-out game in as many days in the Class 3A girls basketball state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

The Mavericks guaranteed themselves no worse than an eighth-place finish after eliminating last year’s state champion the West Valley Rams 54-43. It will be the Mavericks sixth consecutive top eight finish.

Quinn Brewe’s fourth-quarter basket with 3 minutes remaining in the game snapped a torrid 12-0 West Valley run and re-energized Meadowdale for the final minutes. Brewe’s eighth point of the game came after West Valley had chiseled away a 15-point deficit to trail 47-40 with 3:43 remaining in the game. It also provided redemption for a 3-minute Meadowdale scoring slump and six near-consecutive turnovers.

From there, the Mavericks went on to score four consecutive points, including a persistent second-chance basket by Jennie Swerk to give them back their double-digit lead. Swerk led the Mavericks with 13 points.

“They (West Valley) really came at us with a lot of intensity in the fourth quarter,” Brewe said. They really didn’t want their season to end. But we didn’t want our season to end either.”

The Mavericks, who improved to 22-3, will play their final game of the season today against Burlington-Edison to determine fifth and eighth places. Burlington-Edision defeated Sunnyside 57-51 Friday morning.

“They’re (the Rams) a quality team,” Meadowdale coach Karen Blair said. “We are a young team with a lot of inexperience that’s probably why we broke down there in the fourth quarter. But I am proud how we regained our composure.”

Defensively, the Mavericks held West Valley’s two top scorers to a combined 14 points. Dachelle Davis, who entered the game as the tournament’s second-leading scorer with a 19.5 points per game, didn’t score until 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter. It was Davis, however, who jump started the Rams in the fourth quarter, connecting on a pair of 3-point baskets.

Jennifer Espinoza, West Valley’s second leading scorer, was held to just six points, eight shy of her 14-point average. Jenny Springer was 7-for-10 from the floor to lead the Rams with 16 points.

“They played really tough defense,” said Davis, who was 3-for-11 from the field. “I couldn’t get a lot of opportunities because they were double-teaming me wherever I went. I am proud of the way we came back in the fourth, though. We knew we couldn’t leave anything behind.”

Meadowdale put together its best offensive performance of the tournament from a statistical perspective. After shooting a dismal 25 percent in a first-round loss to Lakeside and 30 percent in a 42-point victory over Lindbergh on Thursday, the Mavericks converted 20 of 39 from the field to shoot 51.3 percent.

Tara Jacob added 10 points for Meadowdale after shooting 4-for-5 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.