The eighth-ranked Auburn Riverside High girls basketball team was looking for payback and a championship Tuesday night at Kentwood.
The Ravens found both.
Behind another strong performance by star Kat Cooper, the Ravens held off the Conquerors 61-57 to snap a two-way tie for first place and secure the South Puget Sound League North Division crown on the final day of the regular season.
Cooper collected 23 points, including six in the pivotal final quarter, and was a perfect 8 of 8 at the line.
Kentwood (15-5) beat Auburn Riverside (17-3) 55-50 on Jan. 11. The loss snapped the Ravens’ 28-game SPSL North winning streak.
“We lost to them the first time. And we knew that if we could be Mount Rainier and they lost to Mount Rainier, that we could beat them,” Cooper said. “Our first loss to Kentwood, we didn’t like that at all. We knew we could beat them.”
With the win, the Ravens will play top-ranked Federal Way at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11 at the ShoWare Center for the SPSL championship. Kentwood will play Emerald Ridge at 5 p.m. at the ShoWare Center for the third seed to the district tournament.
It took everything the Ravens had Tuesday night to outlast the Conquerors. In a game that included nine ties and nine lead changes, most of which happened in the final eight minutes, neither team gained full advantage all night.
“I’ve been here for two years and it seems that all Auburn Riverside-Kentwood games are just like that,” said AR coach Terry Johnson.
In a back-and-forth game, the Ravens took a 24-17 lead with 3:42 left in the half and appeared on the surface to be in control. Kentwood’s Kylie Huerta and Courtney Johnson proceeded to drain back-to-back 3-pointers, cutting the deficit to 24-23. Huerta then followed with a teardrop runner from eight feet, giving the Conquerors a 25-24 advantage with less than three minutes remaining in the first half.
Huerta was just getting warmed up.
The Eastern Washington-bound Kentwood senior finished the night with a game-high 29 points, including four 3-pointers.
Huerta, who was the North’s co-MVP last year, appeared to have given the Conquerors the breathing they needed during a fourth-quarter spurt in which she scored seven-straight points in 1-minute, 26 seconds. Tied 43-43, Huerta drained a pair of free throws, then followed with a bucket underneath the hoop before serving up a 3-pointer that gave Kentwood a 50-43 lead with 5:33 remaining in the game.
“We fought so hard,” Huerta said. “We can’t drop our heads. We just have to come back and practice harder.”
Auburn Riverside, however, answered with a 6-0 run, four of which came off free throws. The Ravens connected on 18 of 22 at the line compared to 6 of 11 for Kentwood.
“It was a game that came down to who made shots and who missed them,” said Kentwood coach Dean Montzingo.
The lead switched hands four times in the final three minutes. Tied 55-55 with a minute remaining, Auburn Riverside’s Hannah Melick collected an offensive rebound and scored on the putback to give the Ravens a two-point advantage, a lead they would not relinquish.
“She’s got great hands around the rim,” Cooper said of Melick. “That was the reason we won the game tonight, her rebounding.”
Melick finished the night with 10 points as did Brook Hinkens.
Outside of Huerta, Courtney Johnson, who scored 11 points, was the only other Conqueror to reach double figures.
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