Twice on Saturday, the Kalama Chinooks jumped out to a double-digit first-half lead over the Seattle Academy Cardinals. A stingy defense set the tone, and an inside force named Esary handled much of the early scoring. But as the second half progressed, the Cardinals began to inch their way back into things, forcing the Chinooks into turnovers and converting those turnovers into points. Seattle Academy had its chances, in one of the games drawing as close as a single point. But the Cardinals never again took the lead. And when the final whistles blew, both times it was the Chinooks who rushed the floor and celebrated, a trip to the Class 1A state tournament in Yakima now on the docket for next week.
On a whirlwind day in Washington prep sports, some confusion could be forgiven about the déjà vu doubleheader at Rogers High School in Puyallup. But there were no hijinks afoot — just two boys and girls teams who each finished second in their respective district tournaments, and who were thus seeded into the same spots on the regional bracket. The WIAA ain’t perfect, but it thankfully managed to schedule the two games back-to-back, the girls at 2 p.m. and the boys at 4. The Chinooks are an old friend from my stint at TDN who rarely venture into my new neck of the woods, so the occasion seemed liked a good one to go say hello.
During the first fifteen minutes of the girls opener, the Chinooks seemed well on their way to a waxing. Junior center Parker Esary was the early offensive focus, wielding her arsenal of low-post moves to create easy shots and get herself to the free-throw line. But the rest of the Kalama team was near its best, too. Emily Mickelson crashed the glass, Kaelyn Shipley did a little bit of everything, and McKenna LaRoy buried a 28-footer that had the Seattle Academy boys team oohing and ahing from the upper deck. The ‘Nooks started the game with a 10-0 run and led 23-8 by the end of the first quarter.
Things then slowed down. Considerably. Kalama scored just thirteen points during the next two quarters combined, and Seattle Academy was barely better. But the Cardinals did manage to turn the tide. After going through the opening period in a bit of a daze, they seemed to finally settle down in the second quarter, adjusting their defense to better account for Esary (who finished the game with eighteen points) and creating more offensive opportunities. Allie Morrison carried most of the scoring load, with long-range bomber Sarah Goh adding a few big three-pointers at key times.
For the Chinooks, meanwhile, nothing came easy. Kalama is a better team now in every way than it was in December, and much of that improvement is due to the growing comfort of its young guards. But the playoffs can be a different beast, and those guards can still at times struggle against full-court pressure. Too often the Chinooks spent the shot clock battling just to get the ball across midcourt and initiate some offense rather than trying to find the best possible shot. Shipley was a major plus in that regard, creating and converting a few good looks from scratch. But the Cardinals were the better team in the middle two periods, and they had cut the deficit to 38-29 going to the fourth.
Yet they just didn’t have the juice to get much closer. Every time the Cardinals had a chance to cut the lead to six or seven, Kalama managed to come up with a stop. And Shipley (24 points), the Trico MVP, seemed to find her offensive groove. She hit a jumper to put the Chinooks ahead 41-29 around the four-minute mark. She made her free throws. After a layup made it 48-32 with less than two minutes to go, she and Esary shared a glance and a grin that seemed to show an awareness that they were getting close to doing something awfully cool. The final score was 55-43. Kalama (19-5) should go into state next week with a real chance at a top-four finish.
A half-hour later, the Chinook boys didn’t start quite as red-hot as the girls. This was more of a slow burn. Seattle Academy jumped out to an 11-6 edge, but Kalama then took control, running off fourteen straight points. Senior forward Hunter Esary was the centerpiece, scoring eleven first-half points and winning his share of battles down low. As has been the case all season, however, the Chinooks were at their best when they were showing off their depth. Guards Isaac Truesdell and Blake Stemkoski can both make plays and hit shots, forward Austin Dines provides some really useful length and shooting, and big man Daniel Gerega can come off the bench and create an instant impact. All the moving parts came together to play some stellar defense in the second quarter, holding Seattle Academy to four points, and the Chinooks led 25-15 at the intermission.
The Cardinals began to shake off the cobwebs in the third. They certainly had the talent to come back, with guards Marcus Austin and Ian McManus running the show. Both are highly athletic and highly aggressive, a combination that at times got them into trouble — Austin on multiple occasions made a great play for a steal, but then squandered the possession by going one-on-three into Kalama defenders and giving the ball right back. More often, though, Austin was the offensive spark. Seattle Academy was able to speed up the pace of the game, a real plus, but was unable to cut into the Chinooks lead. Both teams scored ten points in the third quarter, and it was 35-25 with eight minutes to go.
Then the Seattle Academy backcourt really got going. A McManus three-pointer made it 35-30 with five minutes left. Another McManus triple two minutes later cut the lead to one, at 40-39, with three minutes to play. Austin kept creating turnovers, and the only question seemed to be if the Cardinals would have enough time to finish the thing off.
But Kalama didn’t back down, and the Chinooks certainly didn’t fold. The coolest customer on the court was guard Isaac Truesdell, who hit five of his six free throw attempts in the final ninety seconds. His last two, with five seconds to go, established the final margin: 47-42. Esary had seventeen points and a huge offensive rebound late, Truesdell added sixteen, and a charmed postseason continued for the ‘Nooks (15-8). This is Kalama’s final season in Class 1A before dropping down to 2B, and the school’s basketball programs seem determined to make it a memorable farewell.