State 4A/3A girls: Teryn Gardner turns it ‘all the way up,’ leads Mead over Stanwood in 3A quarterfinal; Gonzaga Prep falls to Tahoma

TACOMA - Mead entered last season’s state championships as the undisputed No. 1 overall seed following an undefeated regular season and a dominant trip though district and regional play.

But once the Panthers got to Tacoma, they went cold. Ice cold.

Mead found some heroics to avoid a quarterfinal loss but wasn’t as fortunate in its semifinal and had to settle for fifth place.

The Panthers had no such troubles on Thursday though they did have to fend off a late scare.

Greater Spokane League 4A/3A MVP Teryn Gardner finished with 29 points, eight rebounds – four on the offensive end, five assists and four steals and the fourth-seeded Panthers beat sixth-seeded Stanwood 62-54 and maybe exorcised some demons of the Dome in the process.

Mead advances to a semifinal against No. 1 Garfield (21-1), a 53-46 winner over Gonzaga recruit Claire O’Connor and Lakeside (Seattle), at 3:45 p.m. on Friday.

“I thought that defensively and energy-wise we played as hard as we can play,” Mead coach Quantae Anderson said. “But we’re able to get some shots. Making some shots really helps.”

“I think this year we definitely came ready to play,” Gardner said. “Last year kind of helped us because we’ve all had this experience now and we all know what to expect. We came in a lot different this year, ready and expecting to do our best and not have as many nerves.”

Anderson was particularly impressed with Gardner’s work on the offensive glass.

“It says a lot about who she who she is – as a person and her attitude and her energy.”

Mead led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but Stanwood trimmed the deficit to five and had the ball with just more than a minute to play. But the Panthers clamped down on defense and created a turnover just before the shot clock would have expired.

“We just had an emphasis on defense at that point,” Anderson said. “The whole game really, but we kind of went away from it when (Stanwood) was making that run. But we had to get a stop there and we made some adjustments defensively that really helped on that situation.”

The Panthers (20-3) hit three 3-pointers in the first three minutes and raced out to a 13-3 lead.

“And we were going on the open end of the court,” Anderson said. “I think the girls saw the ball going in and they’re like, ‘Hey, this is different. It’s different from last year.’ “

Stanwood answered with 6-foot-4 post Vivienne Barrett (17 points, eight boards) pouring in nine points. Ellalee Wortham drained a 3 at the horn, and it was tied at 18-18 after one.

It stayed tight through the second quarter, and when Barrett blocked Gardner’s short jumper at the horn, Mead took a 29-28 lead into halftime.

Stanwood (20-6) took its first – and only – lead of the game on the first possession of the second half on a fastbreak layup by Chloe Santeford.

Gardner then took over, hitting a long 3 then a pair of short jumpers to lift Mead to a four-point lead. She gathered an offensive rebound and the ensuing layup pushed it to nine. Her floater with 6 seconds left made it 46-36 entering the fourth.

“(Gardner) knows when it’s time to turn it all the way up,” Anderson said. “Like, she always has it turned on, but she knows when she needs to score more.”

Stanwood didn’t back down though. Barrett picked up a couple buckets in the paint, and Grace Walker’s 3 with 2:14 left made it a five-point game.

“I think we had three or four girls read through (on Barrett) as often as possible,” Anderson said. “She’s really good, and she’s really tall, and she’s strong.”

Gardner hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 1:09 remaining made it 58-51. The Panthers generated a turnover, and Gardner hit two more at the line to seal it.

“We are a defensive team,” Gardner said, “and we needed to have that stop.”

4A

(3) Tahoma 51, (12) Gonzaga Prep 43: Hope Hassemann scored 24 points with seven rebounds, and the Bears (23-3) outlasted the Bullpups (19-7) in a quarterfinal.

Gonzaga Prep drops into the fourth-place bracket.

“It always stings those first few moments,” Gonzaga Prep coach Geoff Arte said. “But we’re proud of where we’re at and we battled that whole game. We just had a bad stretch there in the third quarter to start the half and it probably proved to be the difference.”

The Bullpups were the lowest seed to make a quarterfinal in any of the four tournaments in Tacoma.

“Look at the bottom half of this bracket,” Arte said. “You got 1,2,3 and us – so it’s pretty good company to keep.”

It was tied at 22 at halftime, and Tahoma used a 14-4 run to take a 36-26 lead with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. Taliah Lee hit a 3 from the wing and G-Prep trailed 36-29 entering the fourth.

Lee kept it at seven with a 3 early in the fourth and a pair of free throws by Lynn cut it to five.

But Amelie Sitterud scored in the paint, Tahoma generated a turnover and Hope Hasseman scored to put it back to nine with 90 seconds left.

“That’s kind of basketball,” Arte said. “We expended a lot of energy trying to get back into it. Tahoma’s zone is a little tricky because they’re super aggressive. But we keep battling and get another one tomorrow.”

Lynn led G-Prep with 12 points and Rhyan Madden added 11.