The girls basketball teams from Mountlake Terrace and Glacier Peak high schools had already played two memorable games this season before meeting again, this time in the championship match-up of the District 1 3A tournament on Saturday night. The third meeting between the two state-ranked teams turned out to be another instant classic.
The Glacier Peak Grizzlies held off a furious late fourth-quarter comeback by the Hawks and grabbed a 53-52 win at Jackson High School. Both teams will now move on to the regional round of the WIAA State 3A Girls Basketball Tournament next weekend.
Down 51-46 with 2:00 to play, Terrace climbed back into the game with a Maddy Kristjanson lay-in and then two converted free throws by Samantha Romanowski to trail 51-50 with 20.6 seconds to go. After the Grizzlies made two free throws of their own and took a 53-50 lead, Kristjanson drained a baseline jumper to cut the GP lead to one again, 53-52. But with no timeouts left, Terrace could only watch the last eight seconds of the game run out without a chance to steal a win.
Romanowski led the Hawks with 19 points, 11 in the fourth quarter. Kristjanson scored 17 points.
Regional round opponents and game locations for Mountlake Terrace, Glacier Peak and the other 14 state schools qualified for the state 3A tourney will be announced on Sunday.
In the District 1 third place game, Ferndale defeated Marysville-Pilchuck 58-47 to claim a berth in regional round action next week.
MTHS Girls Basketball vs. Glacier Peak, Feb. 22
Mountlake Terrace 13 15 6 18 — 52
Glacier Peak 17 16 9 11 — 53
MTHS individual scoring: Samantha Romanowski 19; Maddy Kristjanson 17; Nikkie Froehlich 8; Kirsty Dale 4; Shaian Pagaling 2; Claire Zucker 2; Riley Zucker; Amanda Tompkins
Glacier Peak individual scoring: Nicole Fausey 19; Taylor Baird 15; Natalie Rasmussen 11; Kianna Garner 5; Sarah Smith 3; Kaela Collins; Sawyer Manning; Samantha Fatkin; Paisley Johnson
Records: Mountlake Terrace 18-5, 2nd place in District 1 tournament; Glacier Peak 21-2, 1st place in District 1 tournament
MTHS next game: regional round of the WIAA State 3A Girls Basketball Tournament vs. a team to-be-announced at a site to-be-announced
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