Bellarmine Prep Girls’ Basketball is setting goals for the month as the regular season schedule enters its final stages. No losses in January.
So far, the Lions are on track, winning five straight in the past two weeks.
Bellarmine (11-5) started the month with a non-league win over Class 3A Pierce County League favorite Lincoln.
The Lions then won the 4A South Puget Sound League with three wins over Graham Kapowcin, South Kitsap and Puyallup.
On Friday night in Tacoma, they added another important win over 4A SPSL North rivals Sumner, overtaking the Spartans in the fourth quarter to secure a 54-47 win.
“It’s a huge deal for us,” said Veramine coach Shel Miller. ‘s goal, so we’re still there.”
Sumner (13 wins, 2 losses), who advanced to the 4A championship game held at the Tacoma Dome last winter, went into the evening without a loss in the league.
The Spartans also beat Bellarmine 62-57 in December in the first meeting between the two teams of the season.
But this time, the Lions won the back-and-forth contest between the two programs for postseason runs.
Berramine forward Taylor Teaple scored the first points in a game of nine lead changes, and guard Kiara Stone added two 3-pointers in the Lions’ first quarter, but Sumner had four goals. finished with an 8-0 run. Guarding Lainee Houillon, he led 15-12.
The Lions got it back midway through the second quarter with Keiara Curtis’ 3-pointer, and Stone’s two baskets in the final 30 seconds of the half pushed Belarumain to a 6-point lead.
Sumner responded with a 9–0 run in the first three minutes of the third quarter, regaining the lead with a 3-pointer from Olivia Collins and adding two more 3-pointers from Collins and Kylie Griffin to eventually make it 42-0. Got 38 leads. Last 8 minutes.
Momentum changed frequently during the contest, with neither team leading by more than nine points.
“I knew it was going to happen,” Miller said. “They put the ball on the floor. They were very smart with the ball. They were coached really well. So we knew they were going after us.”
The Spartans maintained a four-point lead in Huillon’s basket early in the fourth quarter with 6:42 left to play, but the Lions held scoreless in their next nine possessions, with Huillon making a free throw. It didn’t allow another point until it was in the net with 19.8 seconds remaining.
Veramine outscored Sumner 16–5 in the final quarter to finally wrap up the win.
Forward Stella Wiggins gave the Lions the final lead of the game with 4:40 remaining. Wiggins scored all six of her points in the final quarter, Teaple added four of his nine points in the fourth quarter, and the Belarumain forward consistently secured rebounds, with the Lions scoring in the closing minutes. pulled away.
“They helped us a lot,” says Miller. “We were normally a guard-oriented team, but at a stretch we knew our big guys had to produce. They totally did.”
Huillon of Sparta led all scorers with 22 points, Griffin added 10 and Collins added 8.
Stone scored a team-high 18 points for Bellarmin, including 16 in the first half. Curtis added 10 points in the second half and 15 including four free throws in the final 15 seconds.
Sumner resumes the regular season schedule Monday afternoon at Kent’s Showware Center for a rematch of last year’s 4A State Title Game defending champion Woodinville at the 2023 King Showcase. The Spartans then round out his 4A SPSL schedule with four more league contests.
Bellarmine also wraps up the month with five more regular season games, including a non-league meeting with Eastlake in Kent on Monday afternoon.
The Lions then close out the regular season with league games against Curtis, Olympia, South Kitsap and Puyallup.
And the January goal remains the same.
“We’re just trying to stay on that path and come together,” Stone said. “As a team, I feel we are making good progress and hopefully we will continue to push through January.”
