By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
The (14-2) Tulalip Heritage Lady Hawks basketball team were riding a 10-game win streak when they played at Grace Academy to face the (5-8) Eagles on Tuesday, January 24.
In the 1st quarter, the Lady Hawks offense was slow to get going before senior center Cyena Fryberg scored back-to-back baskets. A basket by Georgie Randall and free throws by Aliya Jones put the Lady Hawks ahead 11-5.
The 2nd quarter was back and forth with the two teams trading baskets. At halftime, Tulalip was ahead 21-17 in a game they had yet to break loose in. That all changed when the Lady Hawks came out of halftime with their foot on the gas pedal.
Junior guard Keryn Parks led the offensive onslaught with 9 points in the quarter, while each other starter got in on the action. Not only did the girls score a game-high 17 points in the 3rd quarter, but their defense couldn’t have been better. They held the Eagles scoreless in the 3rd and took a commanding 21-point lead, 38-17, into the final quarter of play.
Deandra Grant scored four field goals for 8 points in the game’s final minutes to secure a 52-31 victory. Keryn led all scorers with 17 points, Deandra had 12 points, and Aliya added 11 points. The win made it eleven Ws in a row for the now (15-2) Lady Hawks.
A few days later, the Lady Hawks traveled to Mountlake Terrace to take on their biggest competition in the Northwest 1B League, the Cedar Park Christian Lions. These two teams previously met on January 6 at Tulalip, where the Lady Hawks won 41-23 and gave the Lions their only L on the season.
In the 1st quarter, Tulalip trailed 0-7 before Deandra got her team on the board with a bucket. That would be the team’s only points in the quarter as the guards weren’t able to knock down any of their 3-point attempts. As a team, the girls shot 0-8 from 3-pt territory and 0-2 from the charity stripe in the opening quarter.
In the 2nd quarter, trailing 2-12, Myna and Aliya both hit a 3-pointer and Deandra added two more buckets from the painted area. The defense did its job and held Cedar Park to only four points in the quarter, putting the Lady Hawks right back in the game and trailing by only four points, 12-16 at halftime. It was the lowest score half for both teams on the season with defense being played at a high level and no offense coming easy.
The 3rd quarter was much more defense and very little offense. In fact, the Lady Hawks were held scoreless and Cedar Park only scored three points. With the game still very much in reach, trailing 12-19, the Lady Hawks weren’t able to respond and go on that scoring run we’re used to seeing. The girls were content to pass the ball around the perimeter because no one was eager to put a shot up.
Over the game’s final few minutes, Cedar Park knocked down a few more jumpers while Tulalip struggled to execute. On this day, Cedar Park was just plainly the better team by being able to out execute the Lady Hawks on both ends of the floor. When the game ended, the Lady Hawks had been held to their lowest offensive output of the season in a 15-32 loss.
Deandra led her team with 7 points, while Alyia and Myrna both had 3 points, and Keryn Parks added 2 points.
The loss cost the Lady Hawks the #1 seed in the upcoming District 1B playoffs, but they will still host a home game as the #3 seed. They host the Grace Academy Eagles on Tuesday, February 5 at 5:45 p.m. at Francy J. Sheldon gymnasium.