Raiders return to state

By COLE COSGROVE

Associate editor

The Jefferson girls basketball team secured a berth in the state tournament with 59-50 win over Capital Friday.

“We just played great,” Jefferson coach Mike Grady said. “We definitely played up to our potential, and maybe a little better than that. For a team that didn’t have a lot of varsity returners, we played with great composure, especially at the end.”

Even if the Raiders lose their next two games, they can finish no worse than fourth. The top seven teams advance to state.

Chelsea Hunt scored 25 and Kezia Long scored 19 for the Raiders.

Many league coaches didn’t expect Jefferson (18-5) to advance this far this year. They returned only three varsity players from last year’s state team.

“No doubt, when you lose that many great players like we had and only return one starter, there’s going to be some skepticism,” Grady said. “They worked hard, despite a lot of injuries and a lot of mistakes at first. That made it more difficult to be successful.”

Jefferson hasn’t been a fourth-quarter team this season, mostly because it has had such large leads by the end of games, but it outscored Capital 17-12 in the final period to hold on for the win.

Jefferson played Kentlake last night. The winner plays in the district championship game at 6 p.m. Saturday. The loser plays for third and fourth at 10 a.m. Both games are at the University of Puget Sound.

Kentlake hasn’t lost to an in-state team all year on its way to a 21-2 record. It’s only two losses came in the California Surf N Slam tournament back in December. Since then it has won 16-straight games.

Jefferson’s Chelsea Hunt and Kentlake’s Shuree Hyatt, who were both all-state selections on the soccer field, will be soccer teammates and roommates this fall at the University of San Francisco.

Decatur 63, Foss 51

The Decatur girls basketball team kept its season alive with a 63-51 win over Foss Friday.

Kamrica Ary-Turner and Jennifer Morrow each scored 18 points for the Gators.

The Gators played Capital last night.

The winner of that game plays the winner of the Port Angeles versus Olympia game for the chance to be the No. 5 seed to state. That game would be at 8 p.m. Thursday at Foss.

If Decatur lost last night, its season is over.

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