After jumping out to a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter, the Mountlake Terrace Hawks were confronted with a sudden defensive change by the Everett Seagulls, a defensive scheme that the young Hawks had not seen before.
Everett utilized a 3-2 half court trap to stifle Terrace, kick start their own offense and ultimately run away with a 55-36 win over the visiting Hawks in a non-conference girls basketball game Tuesday night at Everett High School.
The Seagulls slipped ahead 20-19 on a Sydney Taggart bucket with 1:14 to go in the first half and never relinquished the lead on their way to victory.
Hawk Coach Jesica Anissipour conceded that the half-court trapping defense that the Seagulls utilized starting in the second quarter surprised her squad. “We’re going to work on that and see how to break it,” she said after the game. “It’s very simple to break it; we just need to work on it so that they’re not so scared when it happens.”
The Hawks had 19 turnovers in the game, most a result of the high-pressure defense that the Seagulls applied.
Taggart paced Everett with a game-high 23 points; Megan Dedrick scored 12 points and Alexis Rutter added 11 points for the Seagulls.
Freshman Nohea Morrison picked up her first start for Terrace this year and led the team in scoring with 11 points.
Anissipour liked what she saw in Morrison and the entire team during their first half of play against Everett. “It was a great first half,” Anissipour said. “That first half team is the team I’ve been telling everyone about. That’s what they should look like right now. And they brought it, which was awesome.”
After being down by only three points, 22-19, at halftime, Terrace was outscored 33-17 in the second half.
“Usually we’re a second-half team, so being a first half team was awesome,” Anissipour said. “Hopefully we can put together two halves of play.”
The Hawks are off until Wednesday, Jan. 6, when they reach the halfway point of their season and host the red-hot Glacier Peak Grizzlies. Tip-off is set for 7:15 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Prep Girls Basketball: Mountlake Terrace at Everett, Dec. 29
Terrace 14 5 7 10 — 36
Everett 9 13 16 17 — 55
Mountlake Terrace scoring: Nohea Morrison 11, Jazz Zenk 8, Aynika Nuckles 7, Claire Zucker 5, Jorie Lambert 4, Trinity Prout 1, Eliza Sandoval, Torry Deable, Brianna Houtman, Lydia Prelow, Samra Gebrehiwot
Everett scoring: Sydney Taggart 23, Megan Dedrick 12, Alexis Rutter 11, Kate Pohland 4, Erin Gordon 2, Marlena Urvater 2, Brittany Pedigo 1, Taylor Wold, Lauren Burgess, Siena Utt, Morgan Carter, Whitney Harris
Records: Mountlake Terrace 0-2 in Wesco League South play, 2-7 overall; Everett 0-0 in Wesco League North play, 2-6 overall
Mountlake Terrace next game: versus Glacier Peak, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 7:15 p.m. at Mountlake Terrace High School
— Story and photos by Doug Petrowski
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