Moehrle Steals the Show

It was supposed to be a showdown between superstar guards, but Marelle Moehrle left her stamp on one last Meadowdale victory over rival Jackson.

STORY & PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON

Eryn Jones walks past Meadowdale coach Dan Taylor after fouling
out with 1:47 to play

MILL CREEK, Wash. - This was to be one of the last titanic struggles of the regular season. Meadowdale, the No. 4 team in the HoopGurlz.com Elite Eleven, vs. Jackson, ranked No. 5 - the rematch. The headliners were supposed to be two of the best players in the state - Eryn Jones of Meadowdale against pal Kristi Kingma of Jackson.

"Everyone came here thinking it was going to be the Eryn-Kingma Show," Meadowdale coach Dan Taylor said. "It really wasn't."

Marelle Moehrle, about to put Meadowdale on
top for good

And it really wasn't meant to be, not by Marelle Moehrle's reckoning, at least. The senior guard approach Taylor before the game and pointed out that, Meadowdale being in the 3A classification and Jackson being 4A, this was to be her last game in a rivalry that has been rather heated in recent years. "She wanted to bring it from the start," Taylor said.

Saying that Moehrle did just that - bring it from the start - would be the understatement of the evening. She downed four three-pointers in the first quarter, equaling the 4x3 quarter she enjoyed while torching Edmonds-Woodway for 28 points her last outing. En route to a game-high 20 points, Moehrle also made a driving layup and completed a three-point play with 4:32 left that gave her team the lead for good, then protected the ball for Meadowdale after Jones fouled out with 1:47 remaining in the 50-45 Mavs victory.

"It's crazy," Moehrle said of the three spree. "It feels like I can fly or something. You really get on an adrenaline rush."

It was a rush the 5-feet-9 Moehrle rode to block a Jackson three-point attempt just seconds after completing the decisive three-point play. She blocked another three during the final minutes.

Brittany Eskridge of Jackson

Moehrle's was just the lift Meadowdale needed on a night when the anticipated Jones-Kingma duel fizzled. Jones was saddled with foul trouble throughout and finished with six points, while Kingma struggled from the field and finished with 10. Kingma's second, Oregon State signee Brittany Eskridge who, at 6-2, should be Jackson's main advantage over Meadowdale, also struggled, mainly because of game-long foul trouble.

Meadowdale maintained its unbeaten record (13-0) because Moehrle and sophomore Hanna Fjortoft (16 points) filled the scoring void left by Jone's foul trouble. Taylor also gets an assist for taking a huge gamble, reasserting Jones into the game with three fouls for three of the first half's final four minutes. The gamble paid off handsomely with Meadowdale at one point extending a nine-point lead.

Jones also was carrying four fouls when she scored five points during the final minute of the Mavs' 55-53 victory over Jackson on their home floor in December. Sweeping the two-game WesCo set virtually assures Meadowdale of running the regular-season table. Then it gets tough, with much-taller 3A powers Auburn Riverside and Chief Sealth, among others, in waiting.

In preparation, Taylor has had his girls practicing against the Meadowdale freshman boy's team. And if all else fails, he can hope Marelle Moehrle, probably his toughest player anyway, gets on a another prolonged adrenalin rush.

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