Mercer Island appeared poised for another date with Bellevue after a strong opening to the team’s 3A Sea-King district semifinal matchup against Bishop Blanchet Thursday night at Bellevue College.
But with a pivotal second-quarter swing, the Bishop Blanchet Braves surged into the district finals to face the Wolverines, beating the Islanders 58-53.
Mercer Island (19-5) had already locked up a regional berth with its quarterfinal win over Roosevelt two nights prior and looked to be taking control at the end of the first quarter against the Braves. The Islanders closed the period with a 7-0 run to lead 16-10. But after a bucket from Anna Luce gave the Islanders an 18-13 lead early in the second quarter, Mercer Island went cold from the field. Bishop Blanchet (23-1) capitalized off five Islander turnovers and ripped off a 16-3 run to finish the half ahead 29-21.
Mercer Island coach Gillian d’Hondt said she noticed her players dialing back the aggression after their solid beginning to the game.
“When [the Braves] had that run, we just couldn’t dig ourselves out of it,” d’Hondt said. “And then we had some mental errors and [were] giving up layups, and so that was really the turning point.”
The Islanders got seven points from Luce and four more from Taylor Krause after the break to cut the deficit to three midway through the third quarter. The Braves responded with seven unanswered points and finished the period ahead 44-35.
Mercer Island came within four early in the fourth quarter, then stormed back to make it a one-possession game off back-to-back 3-pointers from Jess Blakeslee, trailing 55-53 with 1:03 left in regulation. But the Islander defense was unable to get the stop they needed down the stretch.
Blakeslee and Luce led Mercer Island with 20 points apiece, with Luce also grabbing 10 rebounds. Jadyn Bush led the Braves with 14 points, while Lee Erickson had 11. Taylor Chambers and Lilly DiPietro each scored 10.
d’Hondt acknowledged that knowing a regional berth had already been secured may have worked against the mindset of her players when they found themselves down against Bishop Blanchet. If they intended to keep their postseason hopes alive, the Mercer Island coach said she needed to see more fearless basketball from her players on the hardwood.
“When we were making that [fourth-quarter] run, no one was worried about anything,” d’Hondt said. “They weren’t worried about pressure, they weren’t worried about making a turnover, they were going hard and that’s exactly how we need to play.”
Mercer Island will take on West Seattle (22-2) in the 3A Sea-King third-place matchup at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 at Bellevue College.
Mercer Island All-KingCo selections
The KingCo Conference recently announced its 2015-16 All-Conference team, with three Islander players among the selections.
Mercer Island’s Anna Luce and Jess Blakeslee were named to the All-KingCo first team, while Taylor Krause was named to the second team. First-year coach Gillian d’Hondt was named KingCo Coach of the Year.
Bellevue point guard Anna Wilson was named KingCo MVP as well as Defensive Player of the Year.
Blakeslee reaches 1000 points
The honors didn’t end there for Jess Blakeslee. The Mercer Island senior captain and starting guard reached 1000 career points during Mercer Island’s 50-38 quarterfinal win over Roosevelt Tuesday, Feb. 16 at Ingraham High School. Blakeslee finished with 12 points in the winning effort.
