Rogers’ upset bid falls short in 41-37 overtime loss to Lake Stevens
The tears in the eyes of Rogers senior guard Jenai Ancheta and coach Rico Ancheta as they walked off the Tacoma Dome court together showed it all.
Though they put themselves in a position to win, the Rams ultimately succumbed in the first round of the Class 4A girls state basketball tournament, 41-37 in overtime, to fourth-seeded Lake Stevens on Wednesday afternoon.
The Vikings advance to play No. 3 Pasco in a 12:15 p.m. quarterfinal on Thursday. Rogers’ season is over.
“This is a special group of kids,” coach Ancheta said. “When it ends that abruptly, and you love your teammates the way these kids do, yeah, it’s going to sting.”
Though they trailed it by three, 14-11, after one quarter, the Rams scored the first 11 points of the second quarter to take a 23-14 lead on Jenai Ancheta’s 12-foot jumper that rolled in with 1 minute, 51 seconds to play in the first half.
Lake Stevens wouldn’t lead again until Camille Jentzsch made a 3-pointer with 3:41 to play in regulation. The Jentzsch shot put the fourth-seeded Vikings on top, 33-31. And that’s where things stayed until the final 29 seconds.
After a timeout, Rogers ran a set play for Karinna Tel that netted the senior guard a driving layup, tying the game at 33-33. Seconds later, Tel made what appeared to be the defensive play of the game when she stole the ball near mid-court and raced ahead of the pack toward the other end.
Tel went in and made another layup with 17 seconds left. She was fouled, as well, but again missed the free throw to extend a 35-33 lead.
That’s when Taylor went to work. She took the outlet pass off the Tel miss and quickly started down the floor. Rogers had pulled everyone off the lane for the free throw, and were back near the defensive lane but couldn’t stop the Lake Stevens guard.
Taylor eluded a pair of Rams defenders, slipped between them and got to the rim for the game-tying hoop, the last two points of her team-high 12.
“She’s the one person you want to have the ball in her hands at that moment,” Vikings coach Randy Edens said. “She wants that moment.”
Taylor left the heroics in overtime to others.
Rogers again grabbed the lead early in the extra period as Ancheta and Alexa Caufield each were fouled on consecutive trips down the floor. Each made one of two free throws to give Rogers a 37-35 lead with 3:16 to play.
The Rams would not score again, however.
Lake Stevens tied the game with two made free throws from Chloe Pattison. Jentzsch then got inside with 1:53 to go, turned toward the rim and made the short shot for a 39-37 lead.
“I’m just glad my teammates trust to get the ball to me in that situation,” Jentzsch said.
Rogers had two chances to at least tie the game in the final 90 seconds. But Destiny Clemons stumbled slightly taking an outlet pass and came up short on a scoop layup attempt before Ancheta stole the ball and went for another potential layup that rolled off the rim and out.
“It’s survive and advance, that’s the expression,” Edens said. “The first day is always the toughest. They got off to a sluggish start in the third there. But we just couldn’t get over the hump, at least until the end.”
Tel led all scorers for Rogers with 17 points.
