SPOKANE — No. 9 Lummi Nation girls basketball was knocked out of the 1B state tournament with a 51-47 loss to No. 8 Pateros in the Round of 12 on Wednesday, March 5 at the Spokane Arena.
The Blackhawks were coming off a 61-37 win over No. 16 Muckleshoot Tribal in the regional round of state on Feb. 28. They were one more victory away from reaching the double elimination portion of the bracket.
Against Pateros Wednesday, Junior guard Ailina Rabang led Lummi with 16 points on 6-of-24 shooting from the field.
Gallery: Lummi girls basketball stopped at state
The Blackhawks scored to make it a one-possession game with under a minute left in regulation. Their defense then forced a 5-second violation on the inbound to get the ball right back, but Pateros forced a turnover and kept Lummi at bay the rest of the way.
“I’m proud of the girls, they fought hard and left it all on the court — that’s all I asked of them. It just came down to those last few possessions,” Lummi Nation coach David James said.
The Blackhawks lost to Pateros (20-6) in a non-conference match, 48-46, at the Okanogan County school on Jan. 4. Lummi only lost to three other teams throughout the season in a high-flying 24-5 campaign.
With young talent and only two graduating seniors on the roster, the Blackhawks will be ready to get right back into things with an attainable goal of getting another shot at the state tournament.
“I just told the girls we’re not going to have an offseason, we’re getting right back to work and they’re all for it,” James said. “They’re hungry, we’ll definitely be back next year.”
While the girls are done for the season, the No. 2 Lummi Nation boys open up their Spokane play at 9 p.m. Thursday, March 6 in a quarterfinal matchup against the winner of No. 8 Ocosta and No. 9 Wellpinit.
Finn Wendt is a CDN visual journalist; reach him at finnwendt@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 122.
