(Last few seconds of tonight’s game – WSHS in blue)

FIRST REPORT, 7:19 PM: Though the West Seattle High School girls were guaranteed a spot in the state tournament anyway, it was still a big deal to take this victory over Garfield, moments ago at Bellevue College, 56-53. Their first game at state will be 7:15 pm Thursday (March 1st) at the Tacoma Dome, vs. either Seattle Prep or Shorecrest, who face off on Wednesday. Photos and details when we get back to HQ!

9:50 PM: Garfield was the last team that won a game against the Wildcats this season – two weeks ago in the Metro tournament – and the WSHS girls were clearly determined this wouldn’t be a repeat.

They had to shake off a rocky start to get on the path to victory, though. Their shooting and rebounding took a while to get to the usual level of excellence. Garfield got out to a 4-0 lead two minutes into the game – but that was the widest lead the Bulldogs ever managed. Two foul shots by #20 Grace Sarver and baskets by #11 Jasmine Gayles and #32 Meghan Fiso got WSHS the lead, 6-4, two minutes later, and by the end of the first quarter, the Wildcats were ahead 14-8.

Gayles (10 points for the game) was first to score in the 2nd quarter. But then Garfield went on a run – not just hot shooting, but temporarily owning the boards, and after 10 unanswered points, they had the lead, 18-16, with 4:32 to go in the half. But WSHS didn’t let them pull away, and was back out in front, 27-23, at halftime.

Both teams came back out of the locker rooms ready to scrap for every possession. Garfield netted the first four points of the second half, tying things up again, but Sarver sunk a basket and #4 Kelsey Lenzie tossed a three, followed by a backhand basket, to put WSHS seven points ahead and regain the momentum just two minutes into the second half.

Things were run-and-gun for a while, and Garfield made up some ground, getting to just one point back with less than a minute and a half in the quarter – Fiso (with a 16-point night) quadrupled the lead instantly with a three-pointer, but two quick Garfield baskets erased it at :33 to go. A Fiso basket sent West Seattle into the fourth quarter ahead by two points, and half a minute into the final period, she got another one, with Sarver’s backhand basket at 7:11 stretching the WSHS lead to six points. Not long thereafter, she added a three, bringing WSHS to its biggest lead of the game at 48-40; the Bulldogs responded with a three of their own, and Sarver cut through their sometimes-smothering defense after that to sink one (on her way to a 20-point game).

Garfield remained behind the rest of the way, no closer than three points back – first at 4:45, with another Lenzie three making a “you’re not closing the gap” statement, and then toward game’s end, as time ran out. As you can see in our clip at the top of the story, the buzzer sounded with the Garfield ball-holder being double-teamed.

The victory gets WSHS a first-round bye at state, and one extra day to rest up before facing either Seattle Prep, who they’ve beaten twice this season, or Shorecrest (here’s their record) at state. See the brackets here; we’ll be there. (During games, we update quarterly, sometimes more often, on the WSB Twitter feed.)

Photos by Patrick Sand; narrative by Tracy Record – WSB co-publishers