There was some major playoff implications in the game Saturday afternoon at Olympic College, between the EvCC Trojan women and the Olympic Rangers. With EvCC holding onto the fourth and final playoff spot at 5-6 in league play, the Rangers were just two games behind them at 3-8.

With the game being so important, a person can sense the urgency from both teams flying up and down the court looking for every opportunity to strike first. EvCC threw the first punch starting the game off with a 10-2 run to open up a sizable lead to give them some breathing room.

The Olympic College Rangers clawed their way back into this contest midway through the first half, going on a 8-0 run themselves led by Diamond Carter going 4-8 from three point range. Carter lead the Rangers in scoring with 12 points by halftime. The Trojans would have a spark plug of their own in Makaliah Johnson, who didn’t lead the team in scoring, but was second with seven points herself. Johnson was a game changer in the first half racing up and down the court playing aggressively getting the ball to the hoop.

Going into halftime the Trojans would lead 31-29 shooting 41.4% from the field, while holding Olympic to only 29%. The defense was key in the first half for the Trojans, and it would be vital towards the end of the game too.

The second half proved to be just as close between both teams. EvCC ended up building a 12 point lead midway through the third quarter with a strong showing from Breezy Shore and Jess Reiter. Reiter hit a three as the play clock expired to give the Trojans huge momentum going into the fourth quarter. However, the Rangers wouldn’t go away cutting the lead to four with six minutes to play in the game. Carter for the Rangers kept scoring points in critical moments keeping the game within striking distance for Olympic. EvCC held strong on defense never letting go of the lead, while Shore from the Trojans went to work with Johnson. Shore kept driving inside scoring timely buckets, with Johnson getting to the foul line hitting 7-8 of them all in the second half.

EvCC built a six point lead with just over a minute remaining looking like they sealed the victory. Then, Mikaela Shumaker hit a three with 40 seconds remaining in the game, bringing the deficit to three points for the Rangers. The Trojans had the ball stripped on the offensive end, Olympic grabbed the ball racing up court with a pass to Carter for three and she nailed it tying the game at 72 with 20 seconds remaining. The gym erupted in celebration and brought on loud chants of defense.

The Trojans inbounded the ball to Johnson, she drove upcourt splitting two defenders with one of them fouling her. Since EvCC was in the double bonus. Johnson shot two free throws. She knocked them down calmly with the crowd at its highest noise level of the night. Johnson talked about those free throws after the game, “coach told me it’s muscle memory and to just clear my head, so I knocked them down.” Olympic had one shot left with 11 seconds on the clock, they pushed the ball upcourt finding Carter on the wing. She had a good look from three to win the game, but missed the shot just off the left side of the rim.

EvCC won by a final score of 74-72 bringing them one step closer to a playoff appearance. Assistant Coach Zack Wilde spoke about the teams victory after the game, “It was huge for us in confidence on offense, we scored over 20 points in three quarters tonight. It was a big big win for us.” You can catch the Trojans next game at home in Everett against Shoreline Community College on Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m.