After going through the pre-game plans with this year’s Pirates just prior to Friday’s league opener against perennial power Seattle Christian, coach Henry Porter drew an irregular line that trended resolutely upward on the whiteboard.
Vashon had previously split two non-league games. The girls won the season opener over Washington High School on Dec. 2. However, the next night they dropped a game to Port Townsend, which was decided in the end with free throws with 4.5 seconds remaining.
Porter used the illustration to remind the players of the importance of weathering the adverse moments — celebrating the games that go well and pushing toward goals that include earning a spot in the postseason playoffs.
On a night where the evening was about much more than a game, weathering adversity was a theme. Coaches and crowd members wore pink shirts to the game to demonstrate support for Seattle Christian player Katie Collier and her family.
Announcer Russ Brazil gave a moving address to the crowd, talking about league MVP Collier’s recent battle with leukemia and her family’s struggles over the last few years with her mother’s breast cancer.
Earlier that morning the Seattle Times reported that Collier would in fact play her first game of the season against Vashon. Collier not only played, but controlled the game offensively and defensively, helping the Warriors to a 43-27 victory over the Pirates.
The game started well for the Pirates as they scraped their way to the end of the first quarter down by a basket, 13-11. The loss of the defensive presence of Vashon’s 6-foot, 5-inch post Charlotte Kehoe due to foul trouble was one key to a Warriors run that saw their lead extended to 29-14 by halftime.
The Pirates rallied in the second half, holding the visitors to just 14 points and cutting the lead to as little as 10 points, but could not find the offense to make up the difference, and the game ended in favor of Seattle Christian.
“We struggled in the second quarter, but otherwise I thought the girls played pretty well,” said Porter after the game. “We just need to have more shots drop and be more aggressive rebounding or when going after loose balls.”
The Pirate offense was led by the high-energy play of wing Rachel Hoffman, whose 10 points paced the Pirate scoring. The remainder of Vashon’s points were distributed amongst Jasmine Acosta and Anya Quig, who added 5 points each, while Kehoe (4), Anna Osborne (2) and Taegan Lynch (1) rounded out the offensive effort.
The Pirates played Auburn Adventist Academy prior to press deadline. They will play a second league game at home against Life Christian at 5:15 p.m. Friday.
— Gary Means is the assistant coach of the Vashon girls basketball team.
