Lynden girls keep their cool, eliminate Olympic

On balance, Lynden’s 56-29 win over Olympic in the first round of the Class 2A state girls basketball tournament looked easy. A 29-9 halftime lead and holding an opponent to 25 percent shooting will do that.

But there was a brief moment at the beginning – when Olympic dashed to a 7-0 lead – that looked like the burden of expectations had finally worn down the Lions. Or had it?

“It wasn’t a problem,” senior Jasmyne Neria said. “They were a good team, but we knew we were OK. We used that as our focus to come back, and we did. If that had happened early in the season, we would have crumpled. But not tonight.”

It turned out not to be a problem. The Lions allowed the Trojans just two points the remainder of the first half and cruised into Thursday’s quarterfinal against White River.

Elisa Kooiman scored 14 points to lead a balanced Lynden attack, while Neria had nine and Faith Dut had eight.

The easy win allowed the Lions to rest their starters significantly and keep something in the tank for what they plan to be a four-game stay in the SunDome.

Lions coach Rob Adams resisted the entreaties of his assistants to take a timeout when Olympic started fast.

“Early in the year, we didn’t handle the expectations with being in the state championship last year and having basically your whole team back,” Adams said. “The coaches were begging me to call a timeout, and I said, ‘No.’ I wanted to see how we would ride that one out. Then, we came right back and went on a great run.

“We liked our game plan; that’s why I didn’t call timeout. Two of those shots were contested shots. I wanted to send a signal to our girls that we weren’t going to panic about it. It worked out in our favor. Had they run it up to 15 or 16 …”

Adams talked about the growth of this team and what the quick turnaround said about his players.

“Earlier in the year, that would have caused us some major trepidation,” he said. “Credit the kids. Our team today was completely unfazed by that, and that was pretty fun to see.”

As they advance, keeping the lessons learned at the forefront will have a lot to say about which trophy – if any – the Lions bring home.

“We’ve been beat six times, three of them by Burlington Edison,” Adams said. “They’re a very good basketball team. We talk about perspective, but in two of those three losses, we had the lead in the fourth quarter and gave it away.

“Now we know that in the state tournament, if we eliminate some of that carelessness, we’ll have a chance.”

Lynden 56, Olympic 29

OLYMPIC: Kiki Mitchell 2-9 5-6 10, Monzon 2-6 0-1 5, Coleman 1-4 0-0 2, Matheny 3-7 0-0 6, Campana 3-1 0-0 6, Peck 0-0 0-0 0, Grant 0-0 0-0 0, Triggs 0-2 0-0 0, Meadows 0-0 0-0 0, Riley 0-3 0-0 0, A. Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-43 5-9 29.

LYNDEN: Neria 4-6 0-0 9, Smith 2-6 0-0 5, Elisa Kooiman 5-9 4-6 14, Vander Haak 1-6 1-1 3, Amos 2-6 0-0 4, Tjoelker 0-0 0-0 0, Zwiers 1-8 1-2 3, Gonzalez 2-2 1-3 5, Dut 4-7 0-2 13, Hershey 2-4 1-1 5, Lankhaar 0-0 0-0 0, Bonsen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 8-15 56.

3-point goals – Olympic 2-8 (K. Mitchell 1-3, Monzon 1-2, Campana 0-2, A. Mitchell 0-1), Lynden 2-13 (Neria 1-3, Smith 1-2, Kooiman 0-1, Vander Haak 0-3, Amos 0-1, Zwiers 0-2, Hershey 0-1). Fouled out – Neria. Rebounds – Olympic 26 (K. Mitchell 5), Lynden 42 (Dut 13). Assists – Olympic 8 (Monzon 2, Campana 2), Lynden 12 (Neria 2, Hershey 2). Turnovers – Olympic 17, Lynden 12. Total fouls – Olympic 14, Lynden 14.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Lynden girls keep their cool, eliminate Olympic."