by Orcas High School staff

Special to the Sounder

A last second shot to beat the buzzer. Every player rehearses such an ending in their mind while practicing; for the Orcas Lady Vikings a dream ending capped an unbelievable run to a fifth place finish in the State 2B Girls Basketball Tournament.

Lanie Padbury’s three pointer as time expired gave the Vikings a 40-39 victory over the Pomeroy Pirates. There was chaos on the court as the Orcas girls celebrated wildly and the officials huddled to confirm that the miracle shot indeed happened. They ruled it was a three and it was in time; a story book ending to an historic season.

The Orcas girls practice every day with the scoreboard clock running on almost every drill. This “clock awareness” has resulted in numerous last second shots this year. When asked if her team planned such a Cinderella ending, assistant coach Lisa Gage replied, “No, but we practice it.”

Time almost ran out on the Vikings much earlier in the season. On January 30th their record was 3 wins 8 losses and they were in sixth place in the Northwest League. The team proceeded to win 6 straight league games to take second in the Northwest League (and secure a home playoff game), then won 3 straight games to claim the Tri-District title. It was their first district championship since 1993, and their first trip to State since 2000. Orcas teams had only recorded one win against twelve losses at previous state tournaments.

The first round game for the Vikings was against the White Pass Panthers, a team who regularly appears at the big tournament, most recently at the 1A level. The game was a tight defensive battle in the first quarter with both teams having trouble scoring. In the second quarter the White Pass team outscored the Vikings 27-5, using that strong quarter to go on to win 51-24. It was a stinging loss, the team’s first in over a month. However, there were positives to build on. While the Vikings shooting accuracy was a season low 14%, they led the Panthers in every other statistic: rebounding, steals, turnovers, blocked shots.

The next day, March 5, provided an opportunity for the team to redeem themselves against the Garfield-Palouse Vikings, last year’s 1B state champions. On this day the Vikings’ redemption would begin with their swarming full court press, forcing the “Gar-Pal” team into 25 turnovers. Stephanie Shaw led the Orcas team with six steals and 14 points as they ran away to a 37-30 victory. The victory was a true team effort, eight of the nine Orcas players scored in the contest, and eight players gathered in rebounds against the taller G-P team. Seniors Sydney Harris and Maddy Smith took turns defending the G-P star player Tianna Woltering, limiting her to 1 field goal and 8 total points.

The day three opponent was Seattle Lutheran, the team which eliminated the Vikings from the district tournament a year ago in the Orcas team’s final chance to qualify for state. This time it was the Vikings turn to send the Saints marching out. The Orcas girls’ pressure defense tallied 14 steals, and held Seattle Lutheran’s top scorer to just two points. Stephanie Shaw took on the defensive assignment against the star player, while the scoring was led by Harris with 14 and Padbury with 11. It was a tremendous group effort: every player scored, and nearly everyone had at least one steal and one rebound. The result was a 55-27 victory.

The two victories set up the contest with Pomeroy for the fifth place trophy. The Vikings’ pressure defense was again the key to establishing an early lead. The score at the end of the first quarter was 18-9, with the points coming quickly from steals and an efficient half court offense. The two teams traded baskets in the second quarter, leaving the half time score 24-15.

Defensively it was Harris and Smith again drawing star player duty, holding Pomeroy forward Taelor Braun to a season low one field goal. Braun did however, take her way to the foul line and made her first nine free throws. Her foul shooting led the Pirates to make a valiant comeback, taking a four point lead with less than two minutes to go. Stephanie Shaw then hit a three pointer to cut the deficit to one, but the Vikings could not get the ball to drop through the hoop on their next possesions. Padbury missed a 12 foot shot off an inbounds play, and Braun grabbed the rebound. Anika Thomas quickly fouled the rebounder to stop the clock at 9.8 seconds, sending Braun to the line, while fouling out herself. “She made the smart play by stopping the clock, something we always talk about,” head coach Terry Moran-Hodge said.

The Pomeroy star made her first free throw while the Pomeroy bench celebrated. This drew the attention of the girls on the Orcas sideline. “April (Hofmann) and I saw them high fiving each other, so we were yelling ‘It’s not over yet!”, said Alison O’Toole. The Viking players were confident, and correct. Braun missed the second of the pair, and Padbury ripped the ball out of the air and dribbled down court as the crowd counted down the final seconds. A pass was made to Shaw near half court who quickly returned the ball to Padbury who stopped and let go the final shot of the year from just behind the three point line. The ball banked in just as the buzzer sounded and the back board lit up.

The fairy-tale ending was hard for many on the bench to believe at first. “I’m still not sure I saw what I thought I saw. It was too perfect to be believable,” Moran-Hodge said afterward.

A preseason coaches’ poll had the Orcas team in fifth place in the Northwest League; they ended up fifth in state. After a winning stretch of 11 of their final 12 games, an unbelievable finish was probably required. The Orcas fans who saw it in the Spokane Arena are still trying to believe it.