(UPDATED SATURDAY NIGHT with playoff info)

(WSB photos by Patrick Sand)

The high-school basketball regular season closed in raucous style Friday night at the jampacked West Seattle High School gym, as the Wildcats were visited by the crosstown competition, the Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks. The girls’ varsity game started unusually – West Seattle reserves played most of the first quarter, which began with each team getting a technical foul for what we’re told were numbering problems. By the time the first quarter ticked down to two minutes, the players on the floor were mostly varsity.

Sealth’s #3 Celia LaGuardia led all scorers with 24 points. For West Seattle, #20 Grace Sarver was tops with 20.

She came into the game with about three minutes to go in the first, and that’s when WSHS started chipping away at Sealth’s early lead. #32 Meghan Fiso tied it up at 11-11 with less than :20 to go in the quarter – she was the Wildcats’ second-leading scorer on the night with 14 points.

#2 Jasmine Smith had 13 for Sealth:

The Seahawks kept close for much of the second quarter. Baskets were answered, and they didn’t give West Seattle much of a chance to pull away – until the last few minutes of the half, when the Wildcats piled on 12 unanswered points, and went into the locker room with a 37-23 lead.

They held Sealth scoreless for the first three-plus minutes of the second half, until a foul shot that put the score at WSHS 46, Sealth 24. The gap continued to widen, with the third quarter ending WSHS 56, Sealth 30, and nothing much changed in the fourth quarter – though the big crowd, packed on both sides of the gym, kept the energy high, all the way to the final buzzer, with the Wildcats winning 76-51.

P.S. This was senior night for West Seattle – just one varsity player is graduating this year, #5 Rilcy Newsome:

The JV team has three seniors – Kathryn Anawalt, Hanan Yassin, and Rosa Grossi – we were a bit late to the pregame recognition and didn’t catch everyone on camera:

Senior cheerleaders Sophia Grupp and Kat Morigi were celebrated too!

We’ll find out within a few days who’s playing where in the postseason.

ADDED SATURDAY NIGHT: According to the Metro League website, the WSHS girls will play their first Metro League tournament game at 7 pm Wednesday (February 7th) at Seattle Pacific University (3307 3rd Ave. W.; map), vs. Cleveland or Ballard (whichever wins their Monday night game).