TACOMA — They work on the situation every day in practice. Every day.
And some days — like earlier this week in practice — they fail to execute.
Then there was Thursday. In the final seconds of the Class 3A state girls basketball quarterfinals. And it all went perfect for the Prairie Falcons.
Angela Gelhar’s layup with 22 seconds gave Prairie the lead, then the Falcons sealed the deal with four free throws for a 46-40 victory over Kennedy of Burien.
“It was scary,” Gelhar said, noting there are no easy lay-ups in the final seconds of a tie game at the Tacoma Dome.
With the game tied 40-40, Prairie’s Lanae Adams grabbed a defense rebound and maintained her composure under tremendous pressure.
She found an open teammate, Jackie Lanz, who then spotted Lauren Goecke toward midcourt.
Goecke got the ball, turned and saw a two-on-one situation. A couple dribbles and a perfect pass later, Gelhar was alone under the basket for a lay-up to take the lead for good.
“It was the same thing we practice. We practice that, seriously, every day for 15 minutes,” said Gelhar, who led the Falcons with 16 points. “Lauren made the best play. I’m so proud of her.”
Goecke added: “It was awesome. You play what you practice.”
Prairie (26-0) will face Kamiakin of Kennewick (19-6) at 3:45 p.m. Friday in the state semifinals.
Prairie got there by beating the Lancers for the second time in three games. Kennedy has lost four times this season — twice to top-ranked Holy Names and twice to No. 2 Prairie.
“That’s a great team,” Prairie coach Al Aldridge said of Kennedy. “We were very fortunate. We kept our composure, and Lauren made some great plays.”
This game looked eerily similar to Prairie’s win in the bi-district tournament finals Feb. 21. In that game, Kennedy took an early lead and was ahead 26-21 at the half before the Falcons held the Lancers to seven points in the third quarter. Prairie eventually won that game by six points.
At the Tacoma Dome Thursday, Kennedy led by nine early and was up 26-21 at the break. Prairie held Kennedy to six third-quarter points and 14 for the half. Oh, and Prairie won by six points.
“This game was really stressful,” said Lanz, a sophomore who made three 3-pointers and scored 13 points. “Now that it’s over, we have a lot more confidence. As a team, we pulled together and did what we had to do.”
While Prairie is known for its defense, Kennedy plays a similar style — a style that stymied the Falcons at times. The Falcons missed two shots and turned the ball over four times on their first six possessions of the fourth quarter.
Kennedy’s Aminah Williams scored off an offensive rebound to give the Lancers a 36-33 advantage with 5:20 to play.
Once the Falcons secured the ball, they attacked the basket, then delivered from the free throw line. Adams made one, then Lanz made four on back-to-back possessions to give the Falcons the lead.
Adams’ lay-up with 2:02 gave Prairie a 40-38 lead, but Williams got another offensive board and putback to tie the game with 38 seconds remaining.
Williams, who led Kennedy with 11 points and 10 rebounds, missed the freebie for the three-point play, but the Lancers got the team rebound.
Prairie’s defense, which held the Lancers to 17 percent shooting in the second half, forced a tough shot again, this time with Adams grabbing the board and starting the game-winning, full-court play.
Goecke and Adams were perfect from the line in the final 10 seconds for the six-point advantage. Prairie was 9 of 10 from the line in the quarter, 17 of 20 for the game.
“We’ve shot poorly (from the line) all year until the last two weeks,” Aldridge said. “We had meetings about it, and then we just decided to stop talking about it.”
Goecke made all six of her free throws for her six points. She also had five assists. Adams had seven points and four steals.
The Falcons led 5-0 in the first minute of the game, but Kennedy went on a 15-1 run to take a nine-point lead.
“We had to get used to it,” Gelhar said. “We had to get used to the lights, the dome. Once we got used to it, we were Prairie.”
The Falcons cut the lead to five by the half, then grabbed a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter. They prevailed in the final quarter just as they had prepared — with defense, with free throws, with execution.
“We needed to make our free throws, and we needed to focus,” Goecke said. “Everything we talked about last night happened today.”
PRAIRIE 46, KENNEDY 40
KENNEDY — Kelsey Trautmann 0, Jasmine Lemon 9, Erin Gosseen 0, Jordan Armstrong 0, Danielle Bojorquez 2, Vivienne McClean 8, Alli Madison 10, Aminah Williams 11, Myah Williams 0, Dee Dee Green 0, Diondra Bourgette 0. Totals 16-53 (0-10) 8-12 40.
PRAIRIE — Angela Gelhar 16, Cori Woodward 0, Kelsey Asplund 1, Lanae Adams 7, Lauren Goecke 6, Megan Lindsley 0, Andrea Smith 3, Jackie Lanz 13. Totals 12-35 (5-18) 17-20 46.
Kennedy 17 9 6 8–40
Prairie 10 11 12 13–46
