Wilson comes through in the clutch for Bellevue

Bellevue Wolverines senior Anna Wilson drives to the basket against West Seattle on Feb. 18 at Bellevue College.

Shaun Scott, bellevuereporter.com, February 23, 2016

Not even a bout with the flu could stop senior point guard Anna Wilson from coming through in the clutch for the Bellevue Wolverines girls basketball team against West Seattle in the 2016 Class 3A SeaKing District II tournament semifinals.

Wilson, who missed the entire second quarter after being elbowed in the face in the the closing minute of the first quarter, scored 12 of her team-high 18 points in the first eight minutes of the second half, propelling Bellevue to a 58-50 win against West Seattle on Feb. 18 at Bellevue College.

The Wolverines improved their overall record to 22-0 with the victory. Bellevue started off the game strong building a 12-0 lead with 4:02 left in the first quarter. Unfortunately for Bellevue, West Seattle went on a 17-0 run garnering a 17-12 lead with 5:37 left in the second quarter. During Bellevue’s drought on the offensive end. West Seattle led Bellevue 28-23 at halftime.

In the second half the Wolverines relied on Wilson’s wide assortment of drives to the basket and perimeter jump shot to regain control of the game. Wilson hit two three-pointers on Bellevue’s first two offensive possessions of the third period, giving her team a 29-28 lead.

“Yesterday she (Wilson) wasn’t feeling so well. She just showed a lot of courage to come back in (after injury). She is a competitor and she wanted to play,” Wolverines head coach Leah Krautter said.

“She is one of those players that no matter what the score and despite the highs and lows of the game is still going to come out and be in the right spot and play hard,” Krautter said. “She uses her length and is really smart out there. She is a very high impact player.”

It was the second time in the past three contests that Bellevue had been tested by a formidable opponent. The Wolverines have defeated the majority of its foes by a significant margin the entire season. Prior to the win against West Seattle, the Wolverines defeated the Mercer Island Islanders 65-55 in a see-saw battle on Feb. 11.

“We have a great team but there is some other good teams out there. That is what you expect in the playoffs,” Krautter said. “We know we are going to see competition and we are going to learn from that in every game.”