Everett, WA – The Trojans have won two of their last three games, and hoped to make it three of four when they hosted Bellevue on Saturday afternoon at Larry Walker Court. In the last meeting between these two teams the Trojans outscored the Bulldogs in the first and fourth quarters, but struggled in the middle quarters and fell 55-64. Jada Andresen was the high scorer in that game with 19 points, making four threes.
In the first quarter of action, Baylor Thomas and Jada Andresen combined for all 11 of the Trojans' points. Bellevue's full court pressure generated 4 turnovers, and while their offense shot just 30% from the field, they still led 15-11.
With just under five minutes to play in the quarter, the Trojans trailed by three until Baylor Thomas tied the game at 20 with a nice three pointer out of an inbounds play. Bellevue took back the lead and held it until 19 seconds to go when Ghadir Ramadan tied the game at 26 by making one of two free throws. Bellevue had the last shot at the half, but the Trojans deflected the ball away, and the two teams would go into the break deadlocked at 26. Everett outshot the bulldogs 39% to 31% but had 13 turnovers.
The Bulldogs got a quick five points to start the second half but then went on a three-minute scoring drought which allowed Everett to not let the quarter get away from them. After the five-minute media timeout, Ashlee Kluin hit a three to give the Trojans their second lead of the ball game, 36-33. The Trojans had an opportunity to extend the lead but three missed free throws and a lane violation kept Bellevue in the game. Baylor Thomas then went on a tear driving the lane and scoring the next 9 Trojan points. To cap the quarter Ella Curry hit a 10-foot jumper to put the Trojans up six points heading into the final quarter.
Bellevue closed the game through the next five minutes of action and got to within one. Jada Andresen then hit a timely three to give EvCC some breathing room. With two minutes to play the Trojans still had a five-point lead but Bellevue hit a three of their own to cut it to two.
Down the stretch Bellevue reclaimed the lead by one and kept Everett at bay. With three seconds to go, Everett got the ball back but still trailed by one. Baylor Thomas got the final shot up from half court but it wouldn't go down and Bellevue got the win 71-70. Thomas finished the game with 29 points and Jada Andresen scored 25, hitting five threes.
Everett's next game will be on Valentine's Day, at home against Skagit Valley. EvCC got the win over the Cardinals back on February 4th 65-58. Game time is set for 5:00pm.