Falcons Fall One Game Short of 4A State Championship game

TACOMA --  With 2:05 left to play in their 4A state semifinal contest against Lewis & Clark, Woodinville's Alexis McLeod fouled out, joining fellow starters Ali Forde and Deidre Miller on the the Falcons bench.

Down three starters, Woodinville was unable to continue their magical ride, falling one game short of the state championship in a 47-43 loss, Friday at the Tacoma Dome.

Nakia Arquette, the Tigers junior forward led her team with 17 points and guard Devyn Galland added 14 points to send Lewis & Clark to today's 4A final versus Federal Way.

The Falcons were led by senior Melissa Gilkey who scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Forde, who played just 15 minutes due to foul trouble, finished with eight points and five rebounds, all in the first half.

If there was a single turning point in Friday night's game, it was Forde picking up her third and fourth fouls on consecutive possessions before a minute was wound off the third quarter clock. With Forde on the floor, the Falcons had built a 23-21 halftime lead and held the Tigers to 29.6% from the field. Without her, the Tigers had their way inside in the second half, improving to 39% from the field.

"To be honest I think we get that game if Ali Forde plays that whole game. She didn't make some great decisions but at the same time I felt she got some tough calls," said Woodinville head coach Scott Bullock.

Said Melissa Gilkey of playing without Forde for essentially the entire second half: "Losing players is always just tough in general especially in a big game. When you lose big players, you lose some momentum."

Even without their second leading scorer and dynamic defender, the depleted Falcons fought gamely to the end. Down by seven at 43-36 with just over three minutes to play, two Falcons reserves stepped up with critical plays.

First, sophomore guard Kim Frost raced down the court and converted a lay-in to cut the Lewis & Clark lead to five at 45-40. Then with 56.2 seconds remaining, Rita Date came in and calmly drilled a 3-pointer from the left baseline to trim the Tigers lead to just two, 45-43.

Woodinville was able to force a Tigers turnover and regain possession with 31.6 seconds left. But after a Falcons timeout, Gilkey got the ball on the right baseline and found herself double-teamed without her dribble and committed a turnover. Her subsequent foul sent the Tigers to the line which iced the game.

"By far the most painful loss I've ever felt," a dejected Gilkey said afterwards. "I mean everybody wants the same thing, everybody wants first place, only one team gets it. Definitely the most painful loss when you're so close."

Now the Falcons will turn their focus to a third place game against Chiawana, Saturday at 1 p.m. With a win, the Falcons will secure their best finish at state in school history. Still, it was tough to put the sting off a semifinal loss behind them so quickly, especially after getting so close.

"I'm gonna miss Melissa Gilkey," Bullock said of his 6 foot 1 inch, senior forward. "God, the game before this one she broke the one thousand point barrier. There's only been three girls in our school history that have ever done that. (After the game) she shed a few tears and now she's gone."

Gilkey, though, has one game remaining before she heads to St. Louis to play basketball for Washington University and she wants to end her season right.

"You want to end your season on a win, on a good note," Gilkey said. "And tomorrow is going to say a lot about this team.

"As much as it sucks to lose, we're in a great place right now, playing for third place," she added. "I'm going to look back on this and love it, just this moment stings. We're making history in our town and everyone's proud of us, it's just kind of hard to see that sometimes when a loss knocks you down."

Woodinville, however, will pick themselves up, just as they have done all season during this incredible ride. One more game, one more win and the 2010-11 Falcons with Gilkey leading the way, will have cemented a place in their school's history.