On a team full of mega-stars, the supporting cast made the biggest difference as top-ranked Bellevue beat No. 2 Lynnwood, 73-60, in the semifinals of the Class 3A state girls basketball tournament Friday at the Tacoma Dome.
But her teammates have seen in it, and so has coach Leah Krautter.
“We knew we had some girls who could come in and contribute, and they did,” Krautter said. “They came in and hit clutch shots.
And, finally, Bellevue is in the championship game after falling short the previous three years. The Wolverines (28-0), who lost to Lynnwood 63-37 in last year’s semifinals, play in Saturday’s 9 p.m. final against the winner of the late semifinal between No. 3 Arlington and Kamiakin of Kennewick.
There had been debate all season about who should be No. 1, Bellevue or Lynnwood, which had won 33 in a row dating back to last season. The Wolverines answered that, emphatically.
“We felt like we had something to prove,” Krautter said.
The Wolverines showed their balance, and depth, especially when point guard Anna Wilson — who has signed with Stanford — got in early foul trouble.
Wilson, who moved from Virginia this school year to be closer to her brother, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, still finished with a team-best 16 points.
“This was the biggest game of the season,” “Probably the biggest game of our high-school career….We just really played our hearts out today. We all showed tremendous effort. Everyone played together as one team, and when we do that it’s like magic.”
“The energy level of our whole team was amazing.”
Lynnwood (25-1), which plays the Arlington-Kamiakin loser for third and fifth places Saturday at 1 p.m., never got closer than eight the rest of the way.
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