BY GERARDO BOLONG | 
Contributing Writer

BELLEVUE - Clutch defense rallied the West Seattle girls basketball ball team to a repeat title in a 56-51 defeat of rugged Cleveland in the championship game of the 2018 3A SeaKing district tournament held at Bellevue College on Sat., Feb. 17.
The 21-5 Wildcats earned another match up against Metro nemesis Garfield (20-6) in a winner- to-state- quarterfinal round regional at the Tacoma Dome while Cleveland (16-6) has a loser-out state regional against Shorecrest in the same location. Games will be played on Feb. 23 or Feb. 24.

West Seattle won the regular season game with the Bulldogs, but lost in the Metro championships.

The Westsider mindset will be different this year at state because last year they were not expected to reach the Tacoma Dome.

"When we're executing our defensive assignments, we do much better," said Wildcat head coach Darnell Taylor. "Everything flows from this. This season, we have higher expectations because we're more experienced and have improved ourselves."

Trailing 51-45 with 2 minutes, 52 seconds in the fourth quarter, the Westsiders regained their rhythm on defensive execution to completely shut the Eagle offense down on Bill O'Connor Court while triggering their own offense.

Grace Sarver initiated the comeback by rebounding and powering home an inside basket. Meghan Fiso blocked a Cleveland shot before shooting an outlet pass to a streaking Jasmin Gayles for a lay up that brought the Wildcats within 51-49.

Fiso surfaced again to angle home a three-ball that returned WS to the lead for good at 52-51 with 1:43 on the clock. Twenty-eight seconds later, with fans clamoring for more in a cacophony of sound, Kelsey Lenzie stole the ball before drilling home a 3-ball from the corner as 57.5 seconds showed with the Wildcats in control, 55-51.

Cleveland had an opportunity to close in, but missed two free throws.

As the Wildcats ran down the clock, the Eagles kept fouling until West Seattle reached the penalty free throw status. Fiso's free throw with 12.5 seconds left capped an 11-0 WS run to victory and she hauled in a final rebound as the buzzer rang in a repeat district title for West Seattle.

"We had to play with poise and let our defense work," said Fiso, who led all scorers with 21 points. "We really wanted revenge after losing (63-60 in the Metro championships) to them before. We should have won that game."

For the first three minutes of the game, the West Seattle girls held sway, speeding away from Cleveland on both points ends of the court to lead 9-0 after Julianna Horn stole the ball and fed Fiso for a lay up.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 15-4 as they spread the wealth of scoring around while blocking the Eagles' paths to inside shots.
Cleveland took advantage of careless West Seattle play to run off eight consecutive points to trail only 15-12 at the end of the first quarter.
Six-footers Kiera Bush and Rasheal Spikes were big loads to handle for WS as they spearheaded efforts that brought the Eagles close at 17-16 ahead of a Sarver free throw and Fiso three-point goal that cleared WS to a 21-16 second quarter margin. Cleveland again narrowed the deficit to one point, 23-22 with 2:16 until halftime.

Fiso scored the final six points of the quarter to send the Wildcats to the locker room in a 29-22 edge,

West Seattle maintained four to seven-point leads until Cleveland regained its swagger and rebound control to take a 38-36 lead following nine unanswered points with just more than forty seconds left on the third quarter.

Gayles pumped home a three-pointer twenty seconds later ahead of Lenzie's three-pointer that pushed WS into a 42-38 three quarter lead.
The Eagles still had plenty of fire to fight and capitalized on Wildcat missed shots and turnovers to regain the lead at 45-42.
Freshman Julianna Horne deadlocked the game at 45-all on a crucial three-pointer with 3:47 to go.

Two consecutive Eagle threes by Ciera Davis and Jazel Abella, respectively, set up the final, furious plays of the fourth quarter.
Lenzie added nine points and had some thoughts about the clutch rally.
"It was a matter of getting the flow back on defense," she added. 

Teammate Jasmin Gayles who played a strong game at key moments also chipped in.
"Playing with poise in the pressure cooker and trusting our defense did it," she concluded.

Junior Grace Sarver played tough for 12 West Seattle Wildcat points. Bush paced Cleveland with 16 points.

Players for district champion West Seattle are Kaiya Mar, Kelsey Lenzie, Rilcy Newsome, a Jenna McPhee (injured), Jasmine Gayles, Grace Sarver, Julianna Horne, Jayla Wilson, Braeden Swanson, Meghan Fiso, Anissa Babitu, and Kathryn Anawalt.
Assisting head coach Taylor are Karyn Golgart,Tommy Wiltzen and Mike Gutierrez. The athletic director is Corey Sorensen.

Fiso scored the final six points of the quarter to send the Wildcats to the locker room in a 29-22 edge,

West Seattle maintained four to seven-point leads until Cleveland regained its swagger and rebound control to take a 38-36 lead following nine unanswered points with just more than forty seconds left on the third quarter.

Gayles pumped home a three-pointer twenty seconds later ahead of Lenzie's three-pointer that pushed WS into a 42-38 three quarter lead.
The Eagles still had plenty of fire to fight and capitalized on Wildcat missed shots and turnovers to regain the lead at 45-42.
Freshman Julianna Horne deadlocked the game at 45-all on a crucial three-pointer with 3:47 to go.

Two consecutive Eagle threes by Ciera Davis and Jazel Abella, respectively, set up the final, furious plays of the fourth quarter.
Lenzie added nine points and had some thoughts about the clutch rally.
"It was a matter of getting the flow back on defense," she added. 

Teammate Jasmin Gayles who played a strong game at key moments also chipped in.
"Playing with poise in the pressure cooker and trusting our defense did it," she concluded.

Junior Grace Sarver played tough for 12 West Seattle Wildcat points. Bush paced Cleveland with 16 points.

Players for district champion West Seattle are Kaiya Mar, Kelsey Lenzie, Rilcy Newsome, a Jenna McPhee (injured), Jasmine Gayles, Grace Sarver, Julianna Horne, Jayla Wilson, Braeden Swanson, Meghan Fiso, Anissa Babitu, and Kathryn Anawalt.
Assisting head coach Taylor are Karyn Golgart,Tommy Wiltzen and Mike Gutierrez. The athletic director is Corey Sorensen.