First place looks mighty good to the Thomas Jefferson girls basketball team.
The Raiders moved to 4-0 in the South Puget Sound League North Division and 6-0 overall with a pair of victories Thursday and Saturday. Jefferson got by Kentlake Thursday in a defensive battle, 39-38, and downed Tahoma Saturday night, 52-39. The Raiders took on the only other unbeaten team in the SPSL North last night, when they hosted No. 1-ranked Kentwood (after press time).
“The key for us, I think, has been our defense,” said head coach Jerry Krueger. “We don’t do anything super exciting or flashy, we just try to make teams earn everything they get. We give up very few easy baskets.”
Jefferson needed a big game from their 6-foot center, Stacy Albrecht, to narrowly beat Kentlake Thursday night at TJ. The senior tallied 20 of the Raiders’ 39 points as Jefferson outscored the Falcons 13-10 in the fourth quarter.
“We have also done a great job offensively of bouncing back when we have a down quarter,” Krueger said. “We never seem to panic when we’re behind early.”
Hannah Kiyohara, the Raiders’ leading scorer the past two years, had only two points.
Kiyohara had scored 32 points in TJ’s previous game. Unique Taufa’asau chipped in seven points against Kentlake.
The Raiders had a much more comfortable win Saturday night against the Tahoma Bears. Jefferson rolled out to a 29-17 lead at halftime and cruised in the second half. Kiyohara led the Raiders with 16 points and Taufa’asau finished with 12. A total of nine TJ players scored during the game.
“We are very fortunate this year to have several players who could be our high scorer on any given night,” Krueger said. “If one player is having an off night, someone else steps up. It’s been a fun start, but we haven’t accomplished anything yet. The best teams in our league are still coming up.”
The Todd Beamer Titans wrapped up their first victory of the season Saturday night when they beat the Spanaway Lake Sentinels, 50-48.
The Titans (1-2 in the SPSL South, 1-4 overall) trailed 16-6 after the first quarter and 43-36 after the third quarter before Beamer outscored Spanaway Lake 14-5 in the fourth.
Beamer was led by 13 points each from Meghan Graf and Mercedes Sullivan. Lillian Hampton chipped in nine points.
The Titans were beaten by Curtis Thursday night, 46-33. Beamer was led by the 10 points of Natasha Fualaau.
The Decatur Gators (2-1, 2-4) continued their impressive early season with a 47-38 win over Emerald Ridge Thursday night. The Gators won only one game last season, a non-leaguer against Forks.
Decatur had seven players score at least four points during the win and were led by the 11 points of guard Sarah Quantz. Tenea Holcomb, Sarah Isaac and Abby McFaul all scored eight points.
The Federal Way girls got their first SPSL North win Saturday when they beat Kentridge, 73-44. The Eagles had 12 players score during the game and were led by the 18 points of senior Jacqie Evenson.
The win improved the Eagles to 1-2 in the North and 3-2 overall.
