By JOEL HILLE

For The Beachcomber

The Vashon High School girls’ basketball team lost another close contest to their rivals from Seattle Christian on Tuesday, Jan. 26, when the Warriors defeated the Pirates by three points.

The margin was four points when the teams met back on Jan 8.

The Pirates fell behind 8-0 early in the game before junior Eva Anderson finally broke the ice by making a three-point play with about four minutes left in the first quarter. Senior Kate Atwell added another field goal for the Pirates, but the Warriors led by a score of 11-5 after one quarter.

The Pirates began the second quarter by playing solid defense and getting good looks at the offensive end. With some nice inside drives, the team pulled to within three points, down only 17-14 at halftime.

The Pirates then kicked into high gear with a 9-0 run to start the third quarter. Freshman Olivia Larson got the second half started with a free throw. Anderson then connected on two three-pointers and then followed that up with an assist to Larson for a lay-in. The Pirates were ahead 23-19 with 5:20 left in the third quarter. But the Warriors then responded with a 6-0 run of their own to retake the lead at 25-23 with 3:40 left in quarter.

Both teams made a couple more baskets, and then the Warriors went into the final quarter with a 30-27 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Anderson tied the game at 33 apiece with two free throws and about 5:30 remaining. Both teams traded baskets thereafter, and the Warriors held a one-point lead with about 30 seconds remaining.

Senior Annika Hille missed a long shot attempt to take the lead, and the Pirates fouled to stop the clock.

The Warriors then made both free throws to make it a three-point lead. On the last possession, the Pirates managed two decent three-point shot attempts to tie but were unable to connect, and the final score was 42-39.

Anderson led the scoring for the Pirates with 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Larson had 10 points and three rebounds; Hille had six points and eight rebounds; Atwell had three points and five rebounds, and Chloe Kuyper and Lilly Hennessey added two points and one point, respectively.

The girls then traveled to Bellevue on Friday, Jan. 29, for another league contest against the Bellevue Christian Vikings. The Pirates again had a tough time getting the offense going early in this game and were playing without Hille, one of the main playmakers, who was ill and could not make the trip.

The Vikings’ aggressive defense had the Pirates flustered from the start, effectively limiting their shot attempts. But the Vikings were also very aggressive on offense, taking the ball into the Pirates to draw fouls and get to the free throw line often, which resulted in them jumping out to a 16-6 first quarter lead. I

n the second quarter, the Pirates played much better defense, holding the Vikings to only seven points, but unfortunately, the Pirates’ offensive woes continued, and the Vikings held a 23-11 halftime lead.

During the third quarter, it became obvious that the Pirates were having an off night when they still couldn’t get any shots to fall, and the Vikings outscored them 13-1 for a 36-12 lead.

The scoreless stretch continued into most of the fourth quarter until Larson finally made a long two-pointer and shortly thereafter made a three-pointer with about a minute left in the game. But it was way too late, and the Vikings cruised to an easy 51-18 victory.

Larson had seven points and one rebound; Anderson had four points and six rebounds; Siena Jannetty had four points and one rebound; Atwell had two points and three rebounds, and Natalie VanDevanter had one point and one rebound.

The Pirates play their final home game of the season on Friday night, Feb. 5, when the team’s six seniors will be honored for their hard work and dedication over the last four years.

The team’s final league game will be at 5:15 p.m. Monday at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma.

— Joel Hille is the father of a VHS girls basketball player.