The Vashon girls basketball team moved to third place in the Nisqually League with wins last week over Charles Wright Academy and Chimacum High School.
The team travelled to University Place to take on the Charles Wright Academy Tarriers on Tuesday, Jan. 11.
The Tarriers took advantage of a Pirate offense that could not find the basket in the early moments, leading by as much as eight and closing out the first quarter with a 10-4 lead.
Vashon rallied in the second quarter and managed to take a one-point lead to the break, 17-16.
The game took a turn back in favor of the Tarriers when at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter Pirate post Charlotte Kehoe (who finished the game with 10 points and six blocks) collected her fourth foul-out and consequently spent the remainder of the quarter on the bench.
Vashon limited the home team to 13 points in the quarter behind hustling full-court pressure and the defensive efforts of Kelsey Abella, who replaced Kehoe, but only managed nine points. The final quarter started with Vashon down by two points, 26-28.
For the game, Vashon’s offense was spurred by Anya Quig (13 points), Cat Amick (11 points) and Rachel Hoffman (two points), but it was the final few seconds that stood out. Vashon had battled to a one-point lead when Charles Wright gained possession of the ball after a turnover with 17 seconds on the clock. Working the clock to eight seconds, a Tarrier miss was followed by an outstanding rebound and put-back that left Vashon down 36-37 with five seconds on the scoreboard and no timeouts remaining.
Vashon quickly inbounded to point guard Jasmine Acosta, who dribbled to the half-court line and let loose a shot that found nothing but net as the buzzer sounded with Vashon ahead by two, 39-37. This game was one that the players are unlikely to ever forget.
Vashon followed their improbable win with a home game on Jan. 14 against the Chimacum Cowboys.
In a reversal from their previous game, Vashon forced early turnovers that led to a quick Pirate lead and a 23-3 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
The Pirates never looked back in this game, taking a 35-11 lead to the half and improving their overall record to 8-4 on the strength of a 55-24 win over the Cowboys.
Two pirates scored in double digits — Kehoe (19 points) and Quig (18 points) — but on this night scoring was distributed across the team, with contributions from Amick (8), Hoffman (4), Abella (3), Taegan Lynch (2) and Kylie Johnson (1). Amick also finished the night with a team-leading eight assists.
As Nisqually League play reaches the midpoint, this youthful Pirate squad is in sole possession of third place and looking to keep improving as they try to return to post-season play for the fourth straight season behind girls basketball head coach Henry Porter.
“We have a ways to go yet,” said Porter after the win over Chimacum. “Early in the year our relative inexperience sometimes hurt us for several minutes per game, but now we are beginning to play our best ball more consistently and that is what could make a difference in how deeply we can go into the playoffs. We just have to keep it going.”
