2A EvCo champ Black Hills wraps up an undefeated league season

Black Hills High School girls basketball completed the trifecta.

It has its first 2A EvCo title since 2009.

Two wins and bragging rights against city rival Tumwater? Yep.

And an undefeated league record (6-0) came with a 59-49 win over the T-Birds in the regular season finale at home Friday night.

“That was our goal at the beginning of the season — to be undefeated and league champs,” Black Hills coach Tanya Greenfield said. “You always set goals at the beginning of the season, and you never know whether you’re going to reach them or not, so I’m proud of them for reaching that.”

Black Hills never trailed after Maisy Williams banked in a left-handed jumper, and the following free throw, to make it 9-6 with two minutes, 42 seconds to play in the first quarter.

Tumwater would hover within single digits for the majority of the game, but the Wolves carried a six-point lead into the half. Black Hills finished 20 of 57 (35.1 percent) from the floor.

“We didn’t play a very good first half,” Greenfield said. “I think we came out better in the third quarter and then we made adjustments and started getting rebounds. Boards were key for us, and we weren’t doing a good job at that at the beginning.”

The Wolves opened the third quarter with scores on four straight possessions. Emma Duff capped the 21-point quarter with a step-back 3-pointer just before the buzzer to make it 50-43.

Duff scored a team-high 19 points, while Williams added 15.

“I’m really excited to see this team being so young and not really expected to go as far as we’re hoping to and we already have,” Duff said.

Tumwater’s 20-point effort in the third — it shot 8 of 13 from the floor — was overshadowed by a six-point fourth.

The T-Birds made 2 of 16 from the field, including a scoring drought that lasted six minutes. Overall, Tumwater finished 17 of 64 (26.6 percent) in shooting.

“Today, we played three quarters,” Tumwater coach Alyssa Vogt said. “Off and on we combined for three quarters. We didn’t get the full game together. There were spurts where, possession-wise, we’d have two or three turnovers in a row.”

Mackenzie Bergquist scored a game-high 21 points for Tumwater, and Sierra Snyder put up another 18.

Black Hills (17-3, 6-0 2A EvCo) carries the No. 1 seed into the 2A Southwest District 4 tournament, which begins Feb. 12. Tumwater (6-13, 1-5) will play a pigtail game against the 2A Greater Saint Helens League No. 5 seed on Feb. 10 for a district playoff berth.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Tumwater 46, Black Hills 40: Black Hills coach Jeff Gallagher said he’s never been that happy after a loss.

Because the Wolves (9-11, 3-3 2A EvCo) lost by less than seven points in the regular-season closer, they swipe the No. 2 seed out of the league away from Centralia. The point-differential beats a tiebreaker, as Black Hills split with Centralia this season.

What it means is a home game against the 2A GSHL No. 3 seed on Feb. 13 in the first round of the 2A Southwest District 4 tournament.

“We didn’t say anything to the kids until we were down 12 with just under two minutes left,” Gallagher said. “We said, ‘Hey guys we don’t want this to be our last performance at home. We get it down to seven, we get a home game.”

TJ Mickelson hit a fadeaway jumper at the final buzzer to cut Tumwater’s eight-point lead to six.

Joe Crumley had a team-high 14 points for Black Hills. Tumwater’s Weston Vandenhazel scored a game-high 18, and Spencer Dowers recorded a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.

Tumwater (13-6, 6-0) takes the No. 1 seed into the district tournament, and finishes 6-0 in the 2A EvCo for the second straight season.

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 10:54 PM with the headline "2A EvCo champ Black Hills wraps up an undefeated league season."