Top-ranked Tumwater girls’ defense stifles No. 4 W.F. West in 2A EvCo showdown, 55-24
It wasn’t a surprise that Tumwater, ranked No. 1 among Washington’s 2A schools, beat visiting W.F. West on Wednesday night. The Thunderbirds won the first meeting of the season in Chehalis handily.
The shock came in how thoroughly Tumwater’s defense clamped down on the No. 4 Bearcats.
The T-Birds held W.F. West to four first quarter points and nine in the first half as they ran away with a 55-24 victory to solidify their hold on first place in the 2A Evergreen Conference.
The Bearcats’ total was the fewest points they had scored in a game since a 58-24 loss to Black Hills in January of 2010.
The temptation would be to say Tumwater “cruised” to the win, but the T-Birds were at full throttle from start to finish.
They collected 13 steals, the majority of which led to T-Bird fast break baskets. At one point in the third quarter, Isabella Lund, who got four of Tumwater’s steals, snatched the ball from a Bearcat and went in for a full court layup – then stole the in-bounds pass and scored again.
Drea Brumfield, W.F. West’s all-time leading scorer and a Pepperdine signee, didn’t score at all until she tallied a free throw midway through the second quarter and, held to just a handful of attempts, didn’t tally a field goal in the first 28 minutes.
“We try to deny her the ball and frustrate her right out of the gate,” said Tumwater coach Robin Johnson. “When she does touch it, we’re ready to double and trap.”
Hounded by Tumwater defenders Cassie Kaufman and Kylie Waltermeyer, she finished with just five points.
“Robin has always made me guard Drea since the eighth grade, since we were kids,” said Kaufman, also a part of Johnson’s 90TEN club team. “She’s a great player, but I have lots of experience playing against her.”
Tumwater’s team success came via a few new wrinkles.
“We implemented some new things we’ve been working hard on in practice. Robin’s a great coach. We’re putting in new defenses and they’re really working,” Kaufman said, admitting that how well they worked early was a surprise. “We were all pretty confident before the game, but the first quarter shocked us in how well it really worked.”
Johnson was more technical.
“We changed up some of the way we handled their on-ball screens,” she said. “We’ve been working a lot on defense in general and our kids have gotten really good at making reads. When to come out, when to switch, when to stay.”
Meanwhile, T-Bird forward Natalie Sumrok got out in front of numerous fast breaks, whether triggered by a steal or a rebound, finishing with a game-high 22 points, 18 after halftime. Lund added 14. Aubrey Amendala had a quiet scoring night with six, but joined Lund in picking up four steals.
Johnson took note of Sumrok’s late outburst but credited the Western Colorado-bound senior with a strong game all the way through.
“Her offense stalled a little in the first half, but defensively, she was phenomenal.”
Freshman post Julia Dalan and senior forward Olivia Remund led the Bearcats with six points each.
The teams were tied at 2-2 after a minute, but Tumwater went on an 16-2 run, fueled by three fast break baskets following steals. The T-Birds led 18-4 after one quarter and never led by fewer than 12 again.
Both teams were ice cold in the second quarter, which the Bearcats actually won, 5-4, gave the visitors’ hope, trailing 22-9 at intermission. Then, Sumrok scored the first five Tumwater baskets of the third period and the rout was on.
“It wasn’t our best shooting night, we missed a lot of layups. I was kind of stumped. We were getting the shots we wanted, they just didn’t go in,” said Johnson.
Sumrok credited W.F. West for stepping up its defense in the second period, deflecting a few T-Bird passes, but wasn’t worried.
“At halftime we were feeling good about how we were playing, it felt like we just needed to keep pushing through and keep doing what we had been doing,” she said. “Our game plan going into the second half was to keep up the pressure, try to stress them out and get the ball.
“That led to a lot of fast breaks which obviously opens up my scoring since that’s how I usually score my points.”
The T-Birds largest lead came at the end, with Lily McCauley’s 3-pointer from the top of the key putting the home team up by 31.
A no-doubt defeat of another top four team has Tumwater feeling good about its chance to carry the No. 1 ranking through to the end.
“We’re super excited for state, we’re ready to go,” Sumrok said.