Rough second half burns Lions in state title game

Lynden coach Rob Adams saw his assistant coaches after turning around a corner into the corridor that led to the Lions’ locker room and exclaimed “we picked the wrong night to play a bad game.”

That’s what made Lynden’s Class 2A State Tournament championship defeat to Shorecrest so hard to bear.

The Lions weren’t surprised by anything the Highlanders threw at them. Lynden knew Shorecrest’s personnel, and the district opponent ran the zone defense the Lions anticipated they would.

But for whatever reason, Adams said, his team didn’t play well, shoot well or defend well.

“This one will probably stay with us a little longer because it wasn’t anything they did to us,” Adams said. “It was what we did to ourselves. As competitors, that stings a little bit.”

Lynden overcame a sluggish second quarter and held a halftime lead, but Shorecrest hit clutch shots down the stretch while the Lions couldn’t make those same winning plays and took a 49-43 loss Saturday, March 5, at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

Elisa Kooiman scored a game-high 18 points with 12 rebounds and committed six turnovers, Mariah Gonzalez gave the Lions critical minutes, scoring nine first-half points before leaving during the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury and Sierra Smith and Jasmyne Neria each had five points.

Lynden (23-4) earned its eighth state trophy and was playing in its first state title game since winning a championship in 2009.

And another title seemed more than obtainable early on against Shorecrest.

The Lions led 10-9 before going on a 9-3 scoring run that put Lynden in front 19-12 with 5:50 to play in the second. Gonzalez scored nine of those points, providing offense at a time when Lynden needed a player to step up.

But after Gonzalez made a free throw at the 5:50 mark, Lynden’s offense suddenly went stagnant against Shorecrest’s 2-3 Zone defense. The Lions’ only field goal of the quarter came on a Smith 3 with 18 seconds left until halftime.

Still Lynden led 22-17 at the break.

“We played D in the first half, but really didn’t play defense in that third quarter,” Kooiman said. “And that is what really got us down. And it sucks.”

The Lions’ offensive woes carried over into the third, and the shots the Highlanders missed during the first half turned into field goals during the second.

Shorecrest wrestled back the lead, 26-25, with an Ari Rantz basket with 3:30 to play in the third. From there, Shorecrest ended the period on an 8-4 run, outscoring Lynden 17-7 during the frame. All seven points came from Kooiman.

“We knew coming into this we would have to shoot good because of their 2-3 Zone, and we only shot 30 percent from the field,” Adams said. “As we missed shots, we stopped moving and we became ball watchers.”

Shorecrest quickly pushed its lead to double digits in the fourth quarter, and Lynden never recovered.

Highlander guard Jazlyn Owens hit two crippling 3s, one to open the quarter and one to give Shorecrest a 42-31 lead with 4:40 to play.

Neria connected on a 3-pointer to trim Shorecrest’s lead to 42-34 with 2:20 to go, but the points came too late. Lynden’s hole had been dug too deep.

“They were playing with confidence, and they had the momentum,” Kooiman said. “Every time we had a play that could have been a good play, it would bounce off our hands our of bounds. We just didn’t make winning plays, like Coach Adams probably said.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Rough second half burns Lions in state title game."