Every avenue was closed Friday night for the Kentwood High girls basketball team.
Whether it was a Kylie Huerta 3-point attempt, a Liz Mills baseline jumper or a hard drive in the paint by Courtney Johnson, ninth-ranked Lake Stevens had an answer.
Behind a balancing scoring attack in which four girls reached double figures, the Vikings turned back the Conquerors 61-44 in a Class 4A state playoff game at Jackson High in Mill Creek.
“(Lake Stevens) really played physically,” said Kentwood coach Dean Montzingo. “They bottled up everything we did.”
The Conquerors (19-7) hung with the Vikings (21-4) through the first two quarters as they went into halftime trailing 30-26.
The wheels came off for Kentwood in the third quarter, when the Conquerors failed to convert a single bucket from the field, resulting in a 47-31 deficit going into the final eight minutes.
With the loss, Kentwood will play Edmonds-Woodway at 1 p.m. Saturday at Jackson High in a loser-out game. The winner will advance to the Elite Eight next weekend at the Tacoma Dome.
Trailing by four entering the third quarter, the Vikings went on an 8-0 run to take a 38-26 advantage. Johnson then ended a 3-minute Kentwood run without a score by converting 1 of 2 at the line. Lake Stevens, however, proceeded to rip off three more quick buckets, pushing its lead to 44-27.
The Conquerors couldn’t find a groove from the outside and couldn’t find a lane to the hoop on the inside much due to a tenacious Lake Stevens defense.
“We just couldn’t find our rhythm,” Montzingo said.
The Conquerors shot just 35.4 percent from the field (17 of 48) and turned the ball over 19 times.
Huerta led Kentwood with 17 points while Mills added 10.
Meghan Warbis led Lake Stevens with 16 points followed by Brooke Pahukoa (14), Brittany Pahukoa (12) and Katie Goodard (10).
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