By Gerardo Bolong

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

AUBURN - After a power outage, it is often difficult to regain the power.

The Foster girls basketball team found itself in a similar situation when it lost its scoring power in a 2A state loser-out regional game as Sequim fired off the final 28 points of the encounter to bitterly shock the Bulldogs 54-44.

The Wolves (17-7) play the loser of the Port Angeles-Clarkston game in a loser-out tiff at 3:45 p.m. at the Yakima Sun Dome on Wed., Feb. 27.

Foster (20-5) concluded a strong season a win short of the grouping in the 2019 state Hardwood Classic..

In continuation of their aggressive double teaming 2-1-2 halfcourt pressing defense that bred a similarly intense solid shot making offense, the Bulldogs blasted out to a 44-26 dominance with 3:37 remaining in the third quarter following a three-point goal from Precious Serafica and a Meera Santos rebound basket of her own missed shot.

Then, the night started turning into fatal Fri., Feb. 22., on the Auburn Mountainview courts and the lights turned out for the fighting Foster Bulldogs.

Turnover after turnover ensued with missed shots that earlier went through now missing the marks. Half court offense was stagnant with slow movement and even rebounding became a serous problem. The Bulldogs were not going after the ball as intensely, which allowed the Wolves to retain the ball most of the time.

Sequim kept pressuring and scoring behind the all-around play of forward Hope Glasser, who singed the nets for 15 points. Six-footer Jayla Julmist also started taking her undersized defenders inside for lay ups and three-point plays to bring the opportunistic Wolves into a 44-44 tie with 3:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.

     Senior Bobbi Sparks scored in the paint for the Wolves to give SHS the lead for good at 46-44 at the 2:40 mark of the quarter.

Foster kept misfiring on offense to give the Wolves the rebounds. Even the few free throws that the Bulldogs received failed to drop.

After every type of mistake possible kept dogging the hard trying Foster squad, Sequim continued on to victory after the Bulldogs closed the game on 11:37 minutes of scoreless offense.

Signs pointed toward a dominating Bulldog win starting with a 12-2 second quarter surge that was triggered by Kaimyla Nolen, Santos and Makana Montoya.

Serafica's three-point bomb followed by Montoya's field goal pushed the Foster halftime lead to 28-18.

Montoya, Nolen, and Serafica joined for six consecutive points after the break and Foster was up 34-18.

Although the Wolves would carve away at their deficit to trail, 34-24, the Bulldogs reached a 39-24 lead with 4:26 to go in the third quarter.

Glasser notched a Sequim basket ahead of the final Foster points of its season and the relentless Wolves' final comeback that included more defensive stops.

In the three quarters of scoring that Foster created, Serafica led with 15 points and Montoya tallied 13.

Glasser had 15 Sequim points with Julmist at nine.

Seniors making their final appearance for Foster were Makana Montoya, Meera Santos, Dyhani Frazier, Alesi Alefaio, Precious Serafica, Julianna Dempsey and Sydney Brushnigan, and other regional rostered players were Amerie Pastores, Kaimyla Nolen, Cassie Fiapito, and Monica Chin.