Girls basketball made a strong showing in the postseason after taking first place in WESCO. After facing adversity in district tournament, they closed out the season in the top 12 in Washington state.
The LSHS girls varsity basketball team started their season off with a loss. After their first five games this season, they were 3-2. They then went on to win the rest of their season, beating their toughest conference opponent, Kamiak, in both games with a combined score of 145-132.
“It took a couple of games to find a rhythm. And then once everything got set, we were undefeated,” junior Sam Pellegrino said.
They started the season with a new head coach, Seth Dodge. He used to coach for the JV boys team a few years ago and took over the head coaching position for the girls team from Randy Edens. Dodge has helped with supporting the girls when needed.
“Dodge is such a great coach, and he’s super helpful, and he helps people mentally. We have a lot of girls who will get very down on themselves; he’s quick to switch the energy back to positive,” Pellegrino said.
It’s important to have a good team while having fun at the same time, that’s one of the things that Coach Dodge does best, other than bringing his basketball expertise to the court. Having a successful and fun team at the same time has brought up spirits in games, especially at the times when the girls were losing.
“I think everybody’s had fun, which is important with sports, as you want to have a successful team, but you don’t want to have a miserable successful team. Dodge included the JV girls so much too. There were no superior players, team, or coach,” Pellegrino said.
With the girls ending their regular season 18-2 they were off to the playoffs, with a few more games that could determine whether they went to state or not. The Vikings started districts strong with a win over Glacier Peak High School. They lost their rhythm with two subsequent losses against Bothell and Kamiak, but they found it once again with a 77-39 win over Newport High School at home for the last seed to regionals.
They beat Skyview High School 47-34, and went to the Tacoma Dome ranked ninth in the state. The Vikings came up short with a 49-46 loss against Gonzaga Prep out of Spokane, who went on to place second in the state. Against Gonzaga prep, the girls scored 14 points in the first quarter, 10 in the second, 4 in the third and 18 in the 4th. Since they only rank the top six teams, LSHS finished in the top 12 for the 2023-24 season.
