By JOEL HILLE

For The Beachcomber

The six seniors on the Vashon High School girls’ basketball team had never beaten the Cougars from Cascade Christian. After a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory in the Cougars’ gym on Wednesday, Jan. 20, they can finally put those demons to rest.

The game had a slow start offensively with the Pirates down 7-2 halfway through the first quarter. But they jumped into gear with some nice defensive work, getting several steals that resulted in fast break lay-ins and closed the gap to 10-8 at the end of quarter one. Halfway through the second quarter, freshman Olivia Larson provided a spark by taking a rebound and making a nice assist to fellow freshman Chloe Kuyper on the fast break for two. Then, Larson got a quick steal for another lay-in, and the Pirates were within three at 15-12. However, the Cougars then put together a 9-2 run to close out the half with a 24-14 lead.

The Pirates began to whittle away at the deficit during the third quarter by driving to the basket rather than settling for outside shots, getting them to the free throw line several times. As the quarter wound down, senior Annika Hille made a three-point play, junior Eva Anderson made a nice driving shot, Larson made another lay-in, and the Pirates closed the gap to 32-28 after three.

To start the fourth quarter, the Cougars made a quick 6-0 run and the Pirates were again down by 10 at 38-28 with six minutes left. Anderson then started the comeback by making two free throws, and the Pirates clamped down on defense. With less than three minutes to play and still down by five, Hille drained a  three-pointer and shortly thereafter made two free throws to tie the game at 39 apiece with 2:20 left. After two empty possessions for both teams, Anderson got to the free throw line and made one of two for a one-point lead with 50 seconds left. On the next possession, Larson deflected the Cougars shot attempt. Anderson secured the rebound and passed to Hille, who was then fouled by the Cougars to stop the clock. Hille made both free throws for a three-point lead with 20 seconds left in the game. The Cougars then missed a three-point shot attempt, but got another chance when a held ball was called on the rebound, giving the ball to the Cougars on the possession arrow. The Cougars finally got a two- point shot to go, but time ran out, and the Pirates had their 42-41 victory.

Hille led the scoring for the Pirates with 14 points and grabbed five rebounds and five steals. Anderson had 10 points and four rebounds, Kuyper added six points and four rebounds and Siena Jannetty added six points and one rebound. Larson had four points and four rebounds, Natalie VanDevanter had two points and three rebounds and Melanie Stoffer and Kate Atwell each grabbed three rebounds.

On Friday, the Pirates hosted the Charles Wright Tarriers and captured another league victory with a 48-34 win. This game also started slowly the score at 8-8 at the end of the first quarter on an offensive rebound put-back by Anderson. The second quarter started with Anderson making another shot and getting to the free throw line, missing that attempt, but Hille got the rebound and put it in for two more. Soon thereafter, Kuyper made a nice rebound, passed to Hille, who drove down the court and dished it back to Kuyper for a lay-in and a 14-8 lead. With one minute left in the first half, Jannetty drained a three-pointer, and the Pirates went into halftime with a 19-15 lead.

After halftime, the Pirates quickly jumped out to a 10-point lead at 25-15 when Anderson continued her aggressive play and made three consecutive shots. Halfway through the third quarter, Jannetty drained another three-pointer, and a few minutes later Anderson made a three-pointer to make it 36-16, and the rout was on. The Pirates led 45-25 with about fourminutes left in the game when Hille made a nice pass to Larson as she moved down the lane, and Larson finished the play with a reverse layup that brought the crowd to its feet. The Tarriers made a respectable comeback attempt with a 9-0 run near the end, but the Pirates held on for a final score of 48-34 and their second consecutive league victory.

Anderson led the scoring with 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Hille made 14 points with seven rebounds, Jannetty had 11 points and five rebounds, Larson had six points and three rebounds, Kuyper added two point with seven rebounds and VanDevanter grabbed three rebounds, and Stoffer grabbed two.

— Joel Hille is the father of a Pirate basketball player.