Seahawks Girls Advance in District Tournament with 42-32 Win Over Mountain View

Kaylia Heidelberg scored a game-high 20 points and the Peninsula Seahawks girls basketball team beat the Mountain View Thunder (Vancouver), 42-32, at home to advance in the District 3/4 Girls Basketball Tournament. It was Heidelberg and her fellow seniors’ final game at the PHS gym.

“Something in this gym is special,” said Heidelberg, who earlier this month was named first-team All-South Sound Conference for the second straight year. “Having all these fans come out to the game and having a lot of my family members come and watch is something I’ll definitely miss. It was nice to get a ‘dub’ in the gym for the last time.”

Heidelberg scored 15 of her points in a sloppy first half that featured 23 turnovers between the two teams. Peninsula (13-8) jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held the Thunder (16-6) scoreless for the first 5:14 of the first quarter. The Seahawks led 24-9 at halftime.

Peninsula pressured Mountain View with a man-to-man defense throughout the game and it took until the third quarter before the Thunder could figure out an answer. Three straight layups off pick-and-rolls by the Thunder’s Sophia Wright helped cut Peninsula’s lead to 27-15 early in the third quarter, but the Seahawks went on a 7-4 run to end the quarter. Mountain View found some steam in the fourth quarter, but ultimately it was too late.

“I’m so happy,” said Seahawks coach Hannah Lekson. “Our girls were very aggressive. We haven’t played man much this year, but we knew they could shoot the lights out of the gym.”

Grace Richardson had a quiet night shooting for Peninsula, scoring 11 points, but fed Heidelberg on a majority of her shots. Layla Senderson led Mountain View with 11 points. The Seahawks limited the Thunder’s leading scorer, Nina Peterson, to only three points.

Peninsula moves on to face a familiar foe in the district tournament: Timberline, a 54-43 winner over Gig Harbor, on Friday, Feb. 16 at 5 p.m. at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma. The Blazers are 18-2 on the season, with their only two losses coming to eventual league champion North Thurston. Timberline beat Peninsula in their two previous meetings earlier this year, 61-56 on Jan. 5 and 69-42 on Jan. 30.

Heidelberg said the key to winning this time around is shutting down Timberline’s two best players, sophomores Brandi Standford and Shayla Cordis. Cordis was the league’s defensive player of the year.

“We had too many turnovers the last time we played them and made them look good,” Lekson said. “We’re capable of beating them if we play with composure and take care of the ball.”

If Peninsula wins Friday’s game they will earn a spot in the state tournament. If they lose, they’ll have one last shot to punch their ticket in a “loser’s out” game Saturday, Feb. 17 at 4:15 p.m. at Mount Tahoma High School.