Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble.

That's how things flowed for teams playing the Kennedy girls basketball team at the Class 3A state tournament. The Lancers took home the second place trophy.

And how did the Lancers do it? There is only one senior on the roster, and she does not start.

"We have a lot of underclassmen that are in different ways contributing to our success," said Lancers head coach Tom Mummert.

The fountain of youth has sprung!

This story is about why these underclassmen are so good and why they were so desperately needed for success in game two versus Kamiakin.

How can a point guard like 5-3 freshman Jasmine Lemon do so well running her team? There probably are no other freshmen point guards out there running their teams in this 3A state tournament. And certainly they are not running it as smoothly and effectively. Lemon didn't score any points in the first game against Lakeside, a 46-32 win at state, but she dished out a lot of assists to go along with a lot of steals in a win over Lakeside. Her teammate, Aminah Williams, explains.

"Jasmine and I play for a team called Rotary Ladystyle," she said.

"It's a girls select basketball team," said Williams.

It's a team that is dedicated to the sport of basketball a lot of months out of the year, that plays against other top talent in the country. It is why Lemon could adjust from close to a half dozen turnovers the first game against Lakeside at state starting March 5 to one in the second game, a day later. And, Lakeside and Kamiakin were no different. If anything, Kamiakin was better defensively, pressuring as much if not more than Lakeside. Kamiakin trailed by three points at halftime and Lakeside, nine, for one perspective. The difference just seemed to be Lemon adjusting, beautifully, from one game to the next, caring for who got the ball more, understanding this state stuff a little better after just one game at it in her life.

"Jasmine plays steady, and does a great job out there for us," said Mummert.

After the Lancers had 24 turnovers in the first game as a team, with Lemon running the point, the Lancers had 11 total against Kamiakin. And this game was over a quarter of the way through the third quarter as players like Lemon, who hit a couple three pointers, and Williams, getting rebounds, were doing it. And, not just as underclassmen as 11 of 12 are for the Lancers, but as the youngest of the underclassmen.

Williams had to get in the game versus Kamiakin early on, with still two minutes left in the second quarter as Andrea Goins picked up a third and fourth foul back-to-back. And Goins was huge versus Kamiakin. After the Braves took a lead of 12-3, it was Goins with a block, and then 2-for-2 shooting getting fouled on a rebound making it 12-5, and Goins again. And then Goins again to make it 12-10 Braves. Then Goins was out on a critical fourth foul, with five fouls meaning you are disqualified, so Goins had to be sat by Mummert.

Williams came off the bench to grab a dozen boards for the game, with three in the critical time when Goins went out to not let Kamiakin get back in it, or worse, begin to blow out the Lancers. Could a blowout happen when a star player is suddenly out? You bet! On the boys half, Columbia River of the Vancouver, Wash. area was ahead of Lakes, 23-12, just blowing the third-ranked Lancers out of the game. It was a huge upset, with CR not even ranked top 10 in final state poll. But then, at that time, their star, who had 14 of CR's 23 points, picked up his third foul with 1:50 to go in the second quarter. Lakes came back to make it 26-23 at halftime. Things were worse then after halftime, really worse, as the CR star came back to play but picked up his fourth foul with four minutes left in the third quarter. Summarizing, Lakes outscored CR, 24-13, in the time their star sat on the bench. So, the Lancers were suddenly without Goins, who got them back in the game, had to have coach Mummert breathing uneasy, to say the least.

"I was sweating a little I have to admit," said Mummert, adding, "But the bench did great, they made a big difference in this one. Jamie Yellam, Aminah Williams..."

It's how these underclassmen look at it that makes the difference. Maybe the youngest leading the way of maturity, or, at least acting like one might not expect freshmen to act, especially with the Lancers 23-2 this season, ranked No. 3 in the final Times 3A state poll.

"We are freshmen," said Williams, speaking of herself and Madison and Lemon. "We see it as an honor to be on varsity."

What about taking the place of Goins?

"I knew I needed to get out there and put forth as much effort as she was putting forth," said Williams. "I just had to go out there and crash the boards."

We've spoke of Lemon and Williams, and, Madison, too was big in this game, in place of starter Daidra Brown -- like Goins in foul trouble early. Madison even stole the ball from the Kamiakin cat-quick point guard as she dribbled down the floor and was fouled. That was right after Goins went out with foul trouble. And Smith had to make free throws because that Kamiakin point guard fouled her going to the hoop. She shot 2-for-2 and the score was 30-26, Kennedy at the time. And they would go into halftime, without Goins that final two minutes, up, 32-29.

Then, after the freshmen did their job in Goins and Brown's absence against Kamiakin, it was Brown coming back in to start the third quarter and she immediately, within the first two minutes, had two steals and two scores. The junior helped the Lancers to a 38-33 lead just three minutes in. Then Lemon and a sophomore Yasmin Fuller and Jamie Yellam, all underclassmen, a junior the latter, were doing things for the Lancers to vault them to a 50-35 lead with 2:22 left versus Kamiakin.

A good coach is needed to run a team that plays the game of basketball so quick and with so much talent, even experience, since some play select. And, though a first-year coach, Tom Mummert, has already proven he can take this game on, with well-called timeouts at state, when the team led Hanford in semifinals by one point with just over three minutes to play. He knows how to settle things down. He can take out Lemon at point guard, if she's unsettled, for some reason, and put in sophomore Presley Neufeld to spell her. Or, those two can play side-by-side in the backcourt. Neufeld was the starting point guard last year, but Lemon's sudden emergence, as a freshmen, along with Fuller, have sent Neufeld to the bench, which, she comes off nicely, quickly to help often. Mummert just knows the game of basketball well, he's had two daughters, too, that played for Kennedy and were on state teams, Karissa and Stephanie. So he's been around them for help. One of them, Karissa, is an assistant coach now.

"He really just encourages us and is real supportive," said Williams of Mummert. "He keeps us in the game. He tells what and what not to do. He does a lot of coaching. Coach does a lot."