By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Last night the Garfield Bulldogs took on Liberty High School in a 3A district 2 playoff loser-out matchup at Bellevue College.
Liberty would start the night off strong with an early three-point shot from Ella Whitaker. The two teams would take turns scoring during the first few minutes of the game as they tried to get into a rhythm. Garfield’s Star Smiley scored the Bulldogs’ first six points of the night, to help her team keep pace with the Patriots. Trailing 8-6 with three minutes left in the quarter, the Bulldogs went on a 17-0 run to close out the quarter. Garfield’s Jayda Lewis got an and-1, where she would convert the extra point and give the Bulldogs a 9-8 lead. Following Lewis’ aggressive conversion, Garfield’s Mariah Roy knocked down a three-point shot, making the score 12-8. The Bulldogs would then quickly score nine more points behind Lena Most’s two three-point shots, including one at the buzzer, as they took a 13-8 lead into the second quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, Liberty’s Grace Moawad was sent to the line, where she converted two free-throw points making the score 12-23. Roy responded with a three-pointer, followed by Liberty’s Kyndall Tokish returning the favor and draining a three on the very next possession. The remainder of the second quarter was relatively uneventful, but the Bulldogs, behind the efforts of Lewis, Roy, and Smiley were able to maintain their lead and held a 38-24 halftime lead.
At the start of the new half, Roy and Most helped Garfield maintain their momentum from the first half as they combined for the Bulldogs’ first four points in the quarter. However, Liberty’s Addison Tran hit a three-point shot to help Liberty narrow the gap. With 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter, Lewis stole the ball and darted to the hoop for a and-1, but missed the extra shot, bringing the score to 46-25. Most would follow with a steal of her own and a smooth layup, prompting Liberty to call timeout. Following the timeout, Liberty began to make more impactful shots, as Tran and Whitaker chipped in two points each, before Tran managed to make a three-pointer, to cut Garfield’s lead to 48-32. Liberty started to get more aggressive towards the end of the third quarter, but Garfield’s Kahmiya Bryant would ignite a late-quarter rally that helped the Bulldogs extend their lead. Bryant connected on a three-point shot to beat the shot clock buzzer, making the score 51-32. In the final 40 seconds, Bryant chipped in another three-point shot, Smiley converted 1 point at the free-throw line, and Liberty’s Dinkenesh Massey hit a buzzer-beater jump shot, to make the score 56-36, in favor of Garfield at the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Liberty played more aggressively, with Whitaker and Tran both securing two three-point shots each. Seemingly, it looked like a new Liberty team was present on the court for the fourth quarter as shots were connecting, and players were hustling and diving for the ball every possession. Liberty, who was trailing behind 20 points at the end of the third quarter, managed to close the gap with admirable efforts from Whitaker and Tran bringing the final score to 70-60.
With the win, the Garfield Bulldogs will take on Bellevue today at 1:15 pm, and Liberty’s season has come to an end.
Garfield had four players who finished the night in double-digits. Roy and Bryant, both finished with 15 points, Smiley finished with 14 points, and Lewis finished with 10 points to help lead the Bulldogs to victory. Liberty was led by Whitaker who finished the night with 26 points, while Tran chipped in 17 points to lead Liberty.
After the hard-fought game, Lewis, reflected on her team’s performance and what made their success possible.
“I just loved how everyone gave it their all tonight, whether it was on defense or offense,” said Lewis. “I feel like once we all just play freely, that is when we perform at our best, and that was tonight.”
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