TACOMA — Bellarmine Prep girls basketball coach Chelle Miller said she didn’t sleep Thursday night.
She said she watched video of the ending of her team’s 62-60 loss to Eastlake of Sammamish earlier in the day, over and over again.
But the video never got easier to take. It showed Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma shooting a free throw with less than two seconds left, Eastlake grabbing the rebound and Ava Schmidt taking a pass and swishing a three-pointer just inside half-court to defeat Miller’s team.
The video also showed what many watching suspected at the time: Eastlake’s winning shot came after the final buzzer.
“I watched the video all night,” Miller said. “I mean in 1.4 seconds you can’t do that. Right? You can’t get a rebound, a half-court pass and a shot (in that time).”
Miller said she will advocate for the state to use video replays in such situations in the future. But no matter what, it won’t change things for her team.
And after a loss that she said left her team “devastated,” Miller had to get the Lions ready to play Emerald Ridge of Puyallup in a loser-out consolation game.
To the Lions’ credit, they did not play like a devastated team Friday at the Tacoma Dome. Emerald Ridge pulled away in the final minute for a 69-59 win, scoring the final seven points in the final 70 seconds of a back-and-forth game.
“We just wanted to show some character, but it was hard to get them ready to play,” Miller said. “They really struggled with (the Thursday loss), but they played as hard as they could. … They came together and they wanted to fight for our seniors.”
Emerald Ridge (21-7), the No. 8 seed, was led by 16 points and 14 rebounds from Maya Barnett and will play No. 1 seed Woodinville in the fourth/sixth-place game at 9:30 a.m. Saturday
Bellarmine Prep ended the season at 22-9, and with a lot of “what-ifs.”
Skyline star Reilly gets an on-court sendoff
The Skyline boys’ leading scorer, 6-foot-6 senior wing Dylan Reilly, was not expected to play in the state tournament because of a leg injury, but he got to participate in it after all.
With the Spartans of Sammamish facing Camas in an elimination game in the consolation bracket, Reilly, who was noticeably limping, was announced as part of the starting lineup. Seven seconds into the game, Skyline called timeout to remove Reilly, who left to a big round of applause from fans of both teams.
Skyline (20-8), the No. 6 seed, could have used a fully healthy Reilly as Camas rolled to a 77-57 victory.
The No. 10 seed Papermakers (20-8), which had not won a state tournament game in 61 years entering this year, was led by 21 points from Beckett Currie.
Theo McMillan, a 6-foot-2 guard, had 12 points and a remarkable 19 rebounds for Camas. At one point in third period, McMillan had 14 of his team’s 27 rebounds.
The Papermakers play Gonzaga Prep for fourth/sixth place at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Notes
- The Gonzaga Prep boys fell behind 10-0 but came roaring back in 72-63 lead. A 27-9 run in the second quarter gave the Bullpups a 36-28 halftime lead.
- Jaecy Eggers had 12 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 1 seed Woodinville to a 47-33 win over No. 12 seed Gonzaga Prep (19-9). The Falcons (25-3) rebounded from a quarterfinal loss to Camas that ended its chance to repeat as state champions.