The Everett CC Women's basketball team traveled to Pasco, WA last weekend to participate in the Columbia Basin College Crossover Tournament. With six able bodied players, the Trojans knew it would be an uphill battle, especially given their first game of the tournament was against #1 ranked Lane, who have appeared in three NWAC Championships in the past six years, winning two of them.
It was domination from the beginning as Lane jumped out to a huge 16-0 lead in the first quarter. Everett got their first made field goal nearly halfway through the first quarter when Hannah Hezekiah made a 3 pointer. The lead for the Titans at the end of the first quarter was 22-7. The Trojans played much better in the 2nd quarter, allowing 16 Lane Titan points to their 15. Hezekiah scoring 9 of them.
In the second half, Lane would go on to build up to a 27 point lead by the end of the 4th quarter, the Trojans never getting closer than their halftime deficit of 16. Hannah Hezekiah finished with 22 points while Kelsey Mellick added 14. Morgan Marshall chipped in 8 rebounds.
In the second game, the Trojans faced former assistant coach Zach Wilde and his #3 ranked Columbia Basin Hawks. The 1st quarter was very competitive, locked in a 12-12 tie until CBC sank a three with 2:51 remaining in the quarter. A 9-4 run to close the quarter would give the Hawks a 21-6 point lead at the break.
The Trojans re-grouped and put together a phenomenal 2nd quarter, lead by Hannah Hezekiah who shot a perfect 4-4 from the field, scoring 11 of Everett's 18 points. They held Columbia Basin to 5 of 14 shooting and just 11 points to go into the half up 34-32.
The Hawks responded in the 2nd half showing why they are deserving of a #3 NWAC ranking. They put up 25, 3rd quarter points lead by Alexis Castro who scored 13 of them shooting 3-5 from beyond the arc. Five turnovers and 0-5 shooting for the Trojans beyond the arc lead to just 12, 3rd quarter points and EvCC found themselves going into the final quarter down 46-57. The cushion held at around 9-12 points for the Hawks through the 4th quarter. Everett cut the lead to 8 on a Hannah Hezekiah "and one" with 1:24 remaining, but CBC was able use pressure defense and excellent free throw shooting to close out the game 67-81.
Two key factors in the loss for the Trojans were giving CBC 19 points off of turnovers, and allowing 9 made three pointers. Alexis Castro scored 34 points for CBC and also came up with 4 steals. The Trojans were lead by Hannah Hezekiah who played all 40 minutes and shot 13-23 from the field for 35 points and adding 9 rebounds.
In the final game of the Crossover the Trojans faced an unranked, but still very good Centralia team who was also coming off of two losses as well. In the 2nd straight weekend of playing three games back to back to back, the Trojans were again fighting tired legs and overall fatigue. The affects were noticeable on defense, as Centralia found open shooters all first half, going 10-19 in the first quarter, and 10-14 in the 2nd quarter. They shot 61% from the floor compared to Everett's 5-26, 35% shooting.
A stronger 3rd quarter by the Trojans kept the game from getting completely out of reach by outscoring the Trailblazers 19-14 and going into the 4th quarter trailing 62-51. In the early moments of the final quarter, Hannah Hezekiah scored five straight points to pull EvCC to within six, but Centralia responded well and quickly pushed the lead back out to ten, controlling the remainder of the game and winning 84-70. Five Centralia players scored in double figures, and the Trojans were once again lead by Hannah Hezekiah's 32 points who averaged 29.6 points per game in the tournament and ranks 3rd among all scorers in the NWAC with 22.1 points per game.
Everett will enjoy eleven days off before playing in the Skagit Valley Holiday tournament on Dec. 28-30 where they will face Spokane, Northwest Indian College, and South Puget Sound.