Schools

Lake Washington Boys, Juanita Girls Facing Huge Sea-King Tournament Challenges Tuesday

The Kangs are up against Metro champion O'Dea and the Lady Rebels are taking on Metro champion -- and unbeaten -- Holy Names.

Two Kirkland high school basketball teams beat tough opponents Saturday in the Sea-King District Tournament, the Lake Washington boys holding off a late charge by Lakeside 67-63 and the Juanita girls roaring back in the final minutes to edge Franklin 51-49.

But neither team has much time to celebrate, since both are now facing not only the biggest games of their respective seasons, but also their toughest opponents.

The 15-9 Kangs will play the top-ranked Metro champion O’Dea Irish (20-2) Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. at Chief Sealth High School in Seattle.

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The 18-5 KingCo champion Lady Rebels face top-ranked and unbeaten Metro champion Holy Names (22-0) at 6:30 p.m., also at Chief Sealth.

“Holy Names is a very, very, very good team,” said Juanita coach Sam W. Lee, named by his peers last week as KingCo coach of the year. “But we have a chance if we play well. Our goal all along has been to win state. Our girls will be ready.”

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Lake Washington coach Barry Johnson said the Irish are quick, but if the Kangs can control the tempo, they’ll stand a good chance.

“Should be a cake-walk!” he said with a laugh before turning serious. “We have nothing to lose. We’re not supposed to win this game. If we go and play and compete, we’re a good team and anything can happen.”

The Kangs are fortunate that their big guy, 6-11 center Darien Nelson-Henry, appears to be all but recovered from a foot injury that kept him out of several games in the latter part of the regular season. He scored 22 points and helped control the post game against Lakeside.

“I would say he’s about 75 percent,” Johnson said. “He played hard and we did a good job of getting him the ball.”

Junior guard Matt Staudacher scored 14 for the Kangs and junior forward Guy Lynott added 13.

Staudacher, Lynott and Nelson-Henry will all have to be on top of their games Tuesday. O’Dea ran over Franklin 86-71 Friday to win the Metro League title, with five players scoring in double figures. Sekou Wiggs scored 23 and Darrias Sime 17, while Dustin Watts had some key plays late in the game and finished with 15.

“They’ve got some good athletes,” Johnson noted. “They’re quick. We like to get up and down the court too, but we need to slow things down a little and control the tempo.”

If it’s possible, the Lady Rebels face an even tougher challenge in Holy Names. The core of Juanita’s starting five are juniors; Holy Names is powered by three senior starters who all played in the state final last year: Erika Johnson, Sophie Reichelt and Claire Conricode.

Conricode, who will play at Pacific next season, scored 19 as Holy Names beat Cleveland 63-51 Friday for the Metro title. Reichelt added 15.

“Those three girls are really good,” said Juanita coach Lee. “It’ll be a good game, and if one team falters, the other will win. We’re going to go out and play hard.”

The Lady Rebels have won their last two, with 6-3 junior center Molly Grager and junior forward Kate Cryderman each scoring 15 Saturday against Franklin. Junior guard Bre Carter, 5-9, added 12, but the Rebs' speedy 5-5 point guard Mikayla Jones was held to just 2 points.


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