When news of the season-ending knee injury to Garfield girls basketball standout Malia Samuels hit the team last summer, teammate Katie Fiso knew the focus of leadership would shift to her.
Fiso would miss Samuels, but she embraced her bigger role and it’s showing on the court.
Fiso’s leadership skills were on full display as the junior guard supplied 12 of her 15 points in the second half as top-ranked Garfield pulled away to defeat No. 5 Lakeside 53-47 on Friday night in the Metro League girls championship game at Seattle Pacific University.
With the Bulldogs clinging to a 47-42 lead, Fiso dribbled in a circle and scored on a reverse layin with 38 seconds remaining to slam the door on the Lions, who led most of the first half.
“We knew what we needed to do to get the dub,” said Fiso, a 5-foot-10 guard. “We needed to come together and use each other, rebound and stop those two good players, Mia [Broom] and Claire [O’Connor].
“Once we did that, we started to get in favor of the game.”
The inside play of O’Connor (21 points) and outside play of Broom (15 points) combined for 36 of the 47 points for Lakeside (15-5). But Garfield (16-1) was able rally from down seven points early and bounce back from their only loss of the season, which came at the hands of the Lions.
“I’m definitely a person who wants to bring life and the best out of our squad and everyone I play with,” Fiso said. “Once I figured out that Malia got hurt, I knew I had to step up. She’s another 20 points on the team, so I knew I had to step up and score more.”
Seniors Naveah Talbert (14 points) and Imbie Jones (12 points) also stepped up offensively for the Bulldogs.
Garfield has won the last two Class 3A state titles, taking home titles in 2020 and 2022. The 2021 state tournament was scrapped because of COVID.
The Bulldogs are making this postseason run under first-year coach Tre Simmons, a former Garfield and Washington standout who also is an assistant with the Garfield boys program. Simmons appreciates Fiso’s infectious spirit and leadership qualities, the one’s that helped the Bulldogs to a strong second half.
“I think Katie’s taken this season on her shoulders,” Simmons said. “She’s in the gym every day. She’s shooting with the girls. She’s shooting with the boys.”
Samuels, widely considered the top recruit in the state of Washington for the Class of 2023, missed the entire season with the knee injury.
Simmons said: “there’s not much of chance” of Samuels playing at state March 1-4 in the Tacoma Dome. Samuels is doing a video documentary on the team for a school project and that will be her role the rest of the season.
Lakeside led by as many as seven points in the first half, but Garfield went on a 13-3 run to claim a 20-17 lead on Jayda Lewis’ putback shot with 4:01 left in the first half. The Bulldogs led 23-22 at halftime behind Jones’ seven points.
Broom led the Lions with 11 points and three three-pointers before the break, but sat out the final 4:50 of the first half with three fouls.