The Student Newspaper of Highline College

Jack Harton/Highline Athletics

Highline’s Aulani Benitez draws Pierce defense in last Saturday’s NWAC playoffs.

Women overcome Chokers to advance; Raiders ruffle Highline’s feathers in a season-ending defeat

Rebecca Zenger Staff Reporter Mar 09, 2023

An exciting overtime win initiated a playoff header, but the Lady T-Birds were winded against Pierce, 53-32, concluding Highline’s season.

Last Wednesday, the Highline women hosted Grays Harbor in their last scheduled match of the season, needing one more win to clinch a playoff opportunity. 

Akshay Rabadia/THUNDERWORD

The Chokers kept Highline on their toes to force the overtime, but the Lady T-Birds came out on top with a 65-60 victory to march onto playoffs the following Saturday. 

From tipoff through the first half, Highline jumped out to a 19 point lead, 30-11, with 2:45 until halftime. Grays Harbor struggled to slim the deficit with 25.2 percent shooting for the half compared to 48.1 percent shooting from Highline. 

The Lady T-Birds were soaring high, going into halftime with a 32-16 lead.

The Chokers finally broke through their shooting struggles in the third quarter where they netted 10-20 from the field and 4-7 from beyond the arc. Grays Harbor converted 11 Highline turnovers to sink 17 points, nine of those coming from their top scorer for the night, Sheridan Green. 

The 26 points from the Chokers in the third quarter put them two points behind Highline, 44-42, at the start of the fourth.

With 4:52 left, Highline got hasty after another Grays Harbor steal and fouled Aaliyah Hill in an attempt to stop an easy layup. But Hill hit two from behind the line, allowing the Chokers to steal the lead, 48-47. The lead switched twice more until Grays Harbor widened the scoring gap by three, their largest of the night. A Choker foul gave Highline two from free throws by Ella Christian and one from Aulani Benitez, leveling the score 52-52 and starting the overtime clock at five minutes.

Five Lady T-Birds contributed to the team’s 13 points in the overtime period, just two Chokers netted 8 points in the allotted time. Highline cemented the win, 65-60, and their NWAC Play-In match against Pierce on Saturday. 

Grays Harbor standout Sheridan Green made 26 points on 9-20 inside and 3-6 three point shooting, she also made six steals.

Highline freshman Mahine Bergeson swished a career-high 14 points on 5-13 from the field and 3 treys. Freshman Ella Christian also has a career-high with 11 points and snagged eight rebounds.

After celebrating the sophomore night win, the Highline women shifted their focus to the playoff match against Pierce.

Last Saturday at the ThunderDome, low shooting percentages and a high foul count for Highline resulted in a loss to the Raiders, 53-32. 

It was a slow start for both teams as Pierce had one turnover and two missed shots until they made their first basket, Highline missed eight shots until Sarah Gatluak put the Lady T-Birds on the board with a tip-in with 6:33 left. For the quarter, the Lady Raiders had 2-10 field goal shooting and Highline, 3-18. The free throw line is where Pierce built a lead by capitalizing on Highline fouls to sink 7-12 and be up by 11-7 by the end of the first quarter.

The Lady Raiders opened up the second with a trey to make it 14-7, while Highline fouls continued to give their opponent scoring opportunities behind the line. The home team was quiet offensively while Pierce built their lead to 20-7 at the 5:00 marker. The Lady T-Birds had something to be excited about after a few quick passes around the perimeter, an inside pass from Ella Christian to Sarah Gatluak for the wide open layup, breaking the silence at 4:15. The Raiders kept thrusting ahead despite a few bright spots from Highline. 

The Raiders led 28-12 heading into the halftime break.

Highline sophomores sparked a run in the third quarter with a Hi’ilani Arai three-pointer and a jumper from Savannah Arneach to follow, slimming the score to 28-15. The sparks caught flame with a 9-0 run from Highline to trail by seven. However, Pierce regained their footing quickly after a crowd uproar from a fade away three-pointer by Samantha Olson. Highline took the timeout to recover after another Pierce run, this time 8-0, with just two minutes left in the third. The scoreboard read 36-21, an increasing lead for Pierce and the sign of trouble for Highline as they fired 17 three-pointers at this point but only made one.

The fourth quarter started with a 13-point difference for Highline that increased with every ball handling error. With their top three-point shooter, Mahine Bergeson, in foul trouble, the odds were not in Highline’s favor. The Lady Raiders utilized T-Bird turnovers for a wide open layup at 6:00 to make a bigger lead of 17 points. Pierce eventually led by as many as 22 points with just 2:38 left, a deficit too large for Highline to recover.

The Lady Raiders closed out the game 53-32 to advance to the NWAC Sweet Sixteen. The Highline women concluded their season at their home court with an 8-5 conference record and 8-15 overall.