By Tim Clinton

SPORTS EDITOR

Washington's third place Class 4A girls basketball state trophy is firmly in the hands of the Kennedy Catholic Lancers after they put away Lake Washington by a 56-51 score Saturday.

The team from Burien finished with a 3-1 record to show for the tournament played at the Tacoma Dome.

It was a successful ending to a successful season for the Lancers.

"When we started, we had seniors and a bunch of juniors," said Kennedy Catholic head coach Michael Brooks earlier in the tournament.  "We had to learn how to love each other.  Our ability to care for each other has really grown."

The Lancers trailed the Kangaroos by a 39-33 score with 1:12 to play in the third quarter Saturday, but closed the gap to 39-38 by the end of the period.

Jayden Fitzgerald drew a foul while making a basket with 59.6 seconds to go and iced her free throws.

She struck again on a jumper at the 20 second mark, then teammate Paige Nadarski nailed a basket at 7:42 to play in the fourth quarter for a sudden 40-39 Kennedy Catholic lead.

Ashley Uusutalo of Lake Washington answered the shot at 7:08 for a 41-40 Kangaroos lead, but Fitzgerald hit a pair of free throws at 6:52 to make it 42-41 Lancers.

A Lake Washington free throw tied it up at 42-42 with 6:32 remaining before Kennedy Catholic pulled ahead to stay with a 6-0 run.

Britain Brooks put up a basket at 6:16 and Gabriela King struck after a pass inside at 5:06 before Fitzgerald swished in two more free throws to make it 48-42 with 4:20 left.

Julia Benthin of the Kangaroos buried a 3-point basket to close the margin to 48-45 at 3:19 before King put in a shot from underneath at 2:36.  Fitzgerald put in two free throws with 1:15 remaining and King hit one of two with 39.1 seconds to go for a 53-45 cushion.

Fitzgerald finished with a game-high 22 points as King tossed in 10.

Kat Schroeder scored nine, Brooks four, Riley Burns three and Izzy McDonough two.

Fitzgerald led with eight rebounds as well and King hauled down seven.  Burns added five and Schroeder four.

Fitzgerald had four assists and had two steals along with Brooks.  Brooks had one assist and Schroeder one steal.