Kamiakin ends Mercer Island's season at state tournament | Girls prep basketball

The Mercer Island girls basketball season came to an end on Friday morning, falling to Kamiakin in the 3A girls state tournament in Tacoma. The final score was 57-47 for the Braves.

The Islanders fought their way back into the game. The team was down 24-16 at the end of the first quarter, but closed some of the gap to 39-27 at the end of the first half.

Mercer Island edged their way back in in the third quarter, scoring nine points in the third, while holding the Braves to nine on the board. The score after three quarters of play was 48-39.

It was the final minutes when Mercer Island fought with all they had to continue their season, but adding 11 points to their score wasn't enough to beat Kamiakin.

The day before, on Thursday morning, the Islanders began the state tournament with a 48-37 loss to Wilson in the quarterfinals.

Mercer Island, which earned a state berth to Tacoma after upsetting Everett in the regionals, fell behind in the first quarter, but started to gain some momentum in the final minutes. The Rams were up 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter of the high fouling game, Mercer Island inched their way closer, but couldn't overtake Wilson on the board. The half ended with Wilson still ahead 23-17.

After the break, Mercer Island came back, but rebounding remained a key issue and Mercer Island was down 36-24 going into the final minutes of the game.

The game ended with Wilson holding off Mercer Island, as the Islanders scored just five points in the entire quarter, three from a buzzer 3-point shot by Jessica Blakeslee to end the game.

Mercer Island will move into the consolation bracket on Friday, March 1, playing Kamiakin at 9 a.m. The game is an elimination match, with the winner moving on for a chance to finished in either fourth or sixth place in the tournament.

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Reporter Megan Managan at mmanagan@mi-reporter.com or (206) 232-1215 ext. 5054.

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