Beavers Split in Tournament Play

By Bucky Beaver

Both Ballard High School’s boys and girls varsity basketball teams continued Kingco tournament play this weekend.  The boys played Friday night against cross town rival and #1 state ranked Garfield Bulldogs at a packed Juanita High School gym.

Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead up by as many as 14 points in the first quarter.  The Beavers battled in the second quarter going into halftime down 31 to 23.  The Beavers rallied early in the third quarter and with a 3-point bucket by senior Raymond Owens only trailed by 2 points midway through the third.  But that was as close as the Beavers would get as Garfield’s continuous pressure forced a season high 20 Beaver turnovers.  Garfield continued to lead by 8 points after three quarters and pulled away for a final score of 55 to 41.

Ballard was led in scoring by seniors Johnny Verduin with 12 points and 7 rebounds, Raymond Owens with 11 points and 3 steals, Nate Rauda with 7 points, and Seth Berger with 7 points and 8 rebounds. Check out the photo of Rauda taking a shot above.

The girls played Woodinville Saturday afternoon in their second game of the tournament.  This was a loser out game, meaning the loser’s season would be over and the winner would continue the march towards the state tournament.  Ballard lost to Woodinville in mid-December by one point—the girls were eager for a rematch.

The game was back and forth for the first seven minutes of the game.  Sophomore Tessa Sechler hit her second 3-point shot of the evening to give the Beavers a 15-12 lead and never looked back.  Ballard pulled ahead to a 9 point halftime lead on 50 percent shooting from the floor.

Woodinville got within two points mid-way through the 3^rd quarter but that was as close as they could get.  Ballard extended the lead to 17 points at one time and finished with a comfortable 62-56 win.  Ballard had balanced scoring with four players getting double figures while shooting 52 percent from the field.

Sechler had her best game of the season sparking the Beavers with 12 points.  Other scorers included juniors Nancy MacGeorge with 15 points and 10 rebounds and Beverly Verduin with 13 points and seniors Riley Soukup with 10 points and Sam Hall with 6 points and 6 rebounds. Check out the photo of Sechler in action above.

Both Ballard teams play again Tuesday night in loser out games.  The girls tip at 6:30 pm and the boys at 8:15.  Both teams play against Newport High School at Juanita High School.

Follow the games on Twitter or Gamecast.

Photos courtesy of  Ed Tanaka.