Late Tumwater girls rally falls short, top-seeded T-Birds fall to Burlington-Edison, 52-47
Some say there’s no such thing as a moral victory.
If there is, it certainly isn’t something the state’s top-ranked 2A girls basketball team would aspire to in a regional round seeding game.
Eighth-seeded Burlington-Edison’s disciplined offense and relentless defense enabled the Tigers to grab a quarter-final berth in the 2A state tournament proper with a 52-47 victory over top-seeded Tumwater on Saturday night at W.F. West High School in Chehalis. Yet, the Thunderbirds served notice late they’ll likely still be a factor at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
“They’re a really good team, I’m not shocked at all,” said Tumwater coach Robin Johnson. “They played ridiculously hard. Tons of credit to them. Defensively, they kept us on our toes, applied a lot of pressure we didn’t handle well. They rebounded well, they flat out outworked us.”
Down 42-32 with 2:37 to play in the third quarter, the T-Birds, who would trail by as many as 13 during the second half, called time out.
As Johnson gave instructions, the public address announcer informed fans that hot dogs would be half price at the concessions stand the remainder of the game. In other words, the long day of regional match-ups at W.F. West was all but over.
Not quite.
Shortly thereafter, the T-Birds (22-2) went on a 13-2 run that brought the game down to a single possession at 47-45 before the Tigers (17-7) held on for the win.
“We showed a lot of guts,” said Johnson. “We had a difficult week as a team but we showed a lot of heart and I’m so proud of the kids.”
Junior Kylie Waltermeyer, who led Tumwater with 17 points, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to get the T-Birds to within a basket. After a pair of free throws from Tigers’ star Sydney Reisner, Natalie Sumrok banked in a turnaround jumper to make it 49-47 with 1:18 left, but Tumwater wouldn’t score again.
“Kylie’s tough down the stretch. She’s like ice,” said Johnson. “She’s always really good in the clutch. She’s never gets too high or too low. She’s steady. The kid loves to compete.”
No other T-Bird scored in double figures, with Sumrok tallying nine and Aubrey Amendala eight, all in the first half. Burlington-Edison’s top two seniors, Reisner and Amey Rainaud, both experienced foul trouble, with Rainaud picking up her third in the first quarter, but still led the Tigers in scoring.
Reisner finished with 17, including the final five clutch B-E points to end the game, while Rainaud added eight. Five different players sank at least one 3-pointer for the Tigers.
The loss, the T-Birds’ first of the season against a 2A school, sends Tumwater into Wednesday’s opening round at state. They’re still are alive for a state championship if they can win four straight games.
“Losses can be good or they can be bad. That’s up to us,” Johnson said. “We love our team and we love each other. Hopefully, we’ll take care of business.”
They’ll open against West Valley of Spokane at 2 p.m. in a loser-out game, right after W.F. West meets Lynden in a similar loser-out game at 12:15 p.m. It was West Valley who beat the T-Birds at the buzzer in a semi-final at the 2020 state tournament.
Burlington-Edison is off until 10:30 a.m. on Thursday when they clash with the winner of a Wednesday game between White River and Washougal.
Early in Saturday’s regional game, Tumwater looked as if its seeding would hold sway.
The T-Birds took their largest lead right off the bat, 5-0, and after five lead changes were up 14-11 late in the first period after a pull up bank shot by Amendala.
But, after Burlington-Edison broke a 16-16 tie early in the second quarter on a standstill 3-point set shot by freshman Lily Atkins, the Tigers would never trail again.
This story was originally published February 26, 2022 at 9:47 PM.