The peninsula hooped it up Friday night, as all three high schools in West Seattle played host to visiting basketball challengers. Outside the gym at Chief Sealth/Boren, the hallway was home to a Haiti-relief fundraiser, as student volunteers (all from the junior class, the group above told us) held a bake sale to raise money for post-quake help. Back in the gym, the Sealth boys won – as did the peninsula’s other two boys-varsity teams – and the Sealth girls lost, as did the other two girls-varsity teams. Ahead, notes short and not-so-short from the three of us who covered the games (and video too) *ADDED 12:10 PM – story and photo from WSHS girls’ game*:

(video from Friday night CSHS-NHHS boys’ varsity game added Sunday night – that’s #30, Keon Lewis, with the bucket in final moments of 1st half)
NATHAN HALE AT CHIEF SEALTH (WSB editor Tracy Record): Just after I finished talking with the bake-sale volunteers, the girls-varsity game wrapped up, so we didn’t catch more than the final score: Hale 63, Sealth 43. Here are the stats as published by our partners at the Seattle Times; Natalie Mackey led CSHS scoring with 14 points.

In the boys’ varsity game, the Seahawks dominated Hale, 71-32, ahead all the way but really blowing the game open in the fourth quarter, which began with Sealth leading 48-27 and then scoring 10 unanswered points (Hale’s first 2 points in the 4th were from free throws – and the game had plenty of those on both sides). Leading scorer for Sealth: Tomas Ogbaslassie, 18 points. Next up – they play at Ingraham on Tuesday.

WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL VS. CLEVELAND

Story and video by Randall G. Hauk
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

The Wildcats allowed the visiting Cleveland Eagles an early 2-0 lead, but were otherwise ingracious hosts, outscoring their guests 14-4 in the remainder of the first quarter on their way to a 60-46 victory on their home court at West Seattle High School Friday night.

Joe Bell Austin led the Wildcats with 17 points, but did most of his damage from the free throw line, including hitting eight in a row at the end of the fourth quarter to seal the victory. Vidal Griffin contributed 11 to the cause.

West Seattle was coming off a tough home loss to Chief Sealth Tuesday night, but showed no lingering effects, playing aggressive defense from the outset.

“Defensively, we wanted to come out and contest every shot and play physically in the paint,” said Wildcat head coach Donald Watts after the game. “We’re really starting to grow defensively.”

A lot of that defensive presence came in the form of 6’7″ senior Devin Andrews, who blocked several shots and challenged several more from his position in the post, forcing Cleveland to hurry shots.

When Cleveland needed stops in the fourth quarter to get back in the game, their aggressive defense resulted in a parade of Wildcats to the free throw line, where West Seattle cashed in on 15 of 18 attempts at the charity stripe, preventing the Eagles from ever getting any closer than five points.

The win was West Seattle’s second in conference play this season, improving to 4-8 overall. They will travel to Nathan Hale (2-8, 5-9) Tuesday night for a 7:30 pm contest.
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Also from Randall G. Hauk, added Saturday afternoon, report on the girls’ varsity game:

The West Seattle girls varsity basketball team was hoping to make it two victories in a row when they hosted one of the top teams in the Metro League Friday night, but was unable to keep pace with the Cleveland Eagles, losing 69-26 on their home floor.
Brianne Goulet was again the top scorer for the Wildcats with 9, with no other West Seattle player scoring more than 3 points in the one-sided affair.

West Seattle (1-8, 3-11) will next attempt to return to the win column when they visit Nathan Hale Wednesday night in a game set for 7:30 p.m.

Two clips from last night:

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SEATTLE LUTHERAN VS. TACOMA BAPTIST

WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand, reporting from Seattle Lutheran High School:

In the girls’ varsity game, the Lady Crusaders beat Seattle Lutheran, 41-27.

Tacoma Baptist managed to overcome a cold-shooting first quarter which saw them down by three points. Despite playing an opportunistic game led by senior Sarah Crunican, who repeatedly stripped the ball and forced turnovers throughout the game, the Lady Saints fell behind in the second quarter and could not overcome the steady 10-point lead Tacoma Baptist held until breaking it open in the fourth quarter.

Sarah Crunican led the Lady Saints with eight points that included two free throws. Also putting up points on the night were Emma Mahboub, Elyssa Watford and Ali Bigliardi.

The boys’ varsity game was something of a one-sided affair, with the Saints controlling the boards and the pace of the game from start to finish, winding up with a 62-29 win over Tacoma Baptist.

The Saints’ breakout came in the third quarter when they managed to hold Baptist to only eight points while putting up 19 of their own, While the scoring was led by Nick Jones with 16 points, Lucas Driscoll was the rebound leader. Also adding to the total were Fred Lisko and Conner Mullen with 12 points apiece.

There was only one junior varsity game: The Tacoma Baptist JV girls beat Seattle Lutheran, 42-29. (The JV boys are scheduled to play at Muckleshoot Tribal School this afternoon, 1 pm; all four teams play at Rainier Christian next Tuesday.)