The Mercer Island girls basketball team lost in the SeaKing District semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 14 to Cleveland. The final score was 68-42.

Mercer Island will now face KingCo rival Bellevue in the third/fourth place game on Saturday afternoon at Bellevue College.

Against Cleveland, the Islanders were down 23-10 at the end of the first quarter, followed by a 15-8 performance in the second to make it a 38-18 game at halftime.

After the break, Cleveland continued to hold off Mercer Island, with a 19-16 third quarter, followed by a 11-8 fourth quarter score.

Kris Brackmann scored 17 points for the Islanders in the loss, while Jamie Mounger had seven for the team. Jessica Blakeslee, Rachael Tessem and Renae Tessem each had four points,and Julia Blumenstein, Suri Johnson and Christina Williamson had two points each.

Saturday’s game against Bellevue will begin at 1:15 p.m. at Bellevue College.

The winner of Saturday’s game becomes the No. 3 seed out of District 2 and advances to the regional tournament. Seed No. 3 will play on Feb. 22 at Mt. Tahoma High School at 6 p.m. The loser on Saturday will become the No. 4 seed, playing at Glacier Peak High School on Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. Both games are loser out, with the winner advancing to the 3A state tournament in Tacoma.