By John Leggett
The Courier Herald
The Sumner High girls won a tandem of vitally important South Puget Sound League 3A basketball games, defeating host Enumclaw 60-48 Friday and beating Peninsula High 61-53 at home Saturday.
Against the Seahawks, the Spartans utilized the clutch shooting of junior guards Ericka Olsen and Angie Wagar-Sanchez who recorded 17 and 14 points, respectively, to push their league mark to 8-2.
By winning Saturday, Sumner’s girls clearly elbowed their way back into the topsy-turvy SPSL 3A postseason picture, as Bonney Lake’s girls had lost 60-57 the previous evening to the same Peninsula bunch.
Sumner was helped Saturday by fiery senior Tyeanne Lubking, who not only swept the glass for a team-leading nine rebounds, but chipped in eight points as well.
When Sumner visited Enumclaw Friday, the Lady Spartans had to stave off a pesky Hornet swarm that managed a 16-point, fourth-quarter rally.
Fortunately for Sumner, Enumclaw had scored only five points in the third frame and trailed 51-27. Sumner held on for the win despite scoring only nine points in the spooky fourth quarter.
“Teams like Enumclaw are more scary than any squad in this league, because they play with nothing to lose and everything to gain as the spoiler,” Sumner coach Robert Thayer said. “Beth Madill, the new head coach for Enumclaw, has her girls playing some pretty decent basketball right now and they have the talent to do some damage.”
Thanks to 20 points from Olsen and a combined 26 points from Kaitlin King and Kendall Theden, Sumner had simply rung up too much of an early advantage for the feisty Hornet bunch to overcome.
Sumner traveled to Clover Park Tuesday night, with results coming too late to report here; results will be posted at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.
At 7 p.m. Friday, Sumner hosts a revitalized Auburn Mountainview squad that now has the returning services of skilled center Stephanie Smolinski.
The 6-foot, 2-inch Lion spire had sustained a broken hand when these two squads squared off earlier this season. The Lions rattled off four straight wins following her return, prior to a loss to league-leading White River.
