Photo: Kevin Culala

By Steve Andersen ’13

 After the final buzzer sounded, there was only a feeling of sadness and disappointment. The Seattle Prep girls basketball team had come within inches of a State Championship but could not quite get it. After going down by a significant margin earlier in the game, the Lady Panthers battled back in the third quarter making the matchup against Cleveland High School as competitive of a State Championship as there had been in years. In the fourth quarter, the game remained tight, neither team giving an inch. In the closing seconds, Cleveland managed to tie the game then deny the Lady Panthers’ scoring attempt to force overtime. After an intense overtime period the game ended with Cleveland winning by a three point margin.

Despite the feeling of coming so close, the girls have every reason to be proud of themselves and their season. They came in and exceeded already high expectations and overcame virtually every form of adversity that came their way during the year. The squad’s motto this year was “Ohana,” meaning family. The Lady Panthers were truly a family this year both on and off the court. The reason for the team’s great success was because of their balance. There was rarely one star who was the center of attention but instead contributions came from too many directions for opponents to stop. This effort was generally led by the starting five: Holly Tonry ’13, Michaela Carew ’13, Quinn Glosniak ’13, Nicole Hall ’13 and Mary-Ann Santucci ’14.

While the girls might have not come away from the season with the biggest trophy, they played to the best of their abilities and undoubtedly have forged memories they will keep for the rest of their lives. In the process, they were able to prove that they were one of the two best teams in the entire state and extended their season as long as they possibly could have extended it.