Whatcom slips past Shoreline at the Charity Stripe

Sophomore collage
Photos by Wilson Tsoi

By Drew Raher 

The Dolphins fought toe-to-toe with the 2nd place Orcas on Saturday afternoon, but were unable to pull off the upset in their last regular season game of the 2014 season. The 70-59 defeat did not damper the halftime celebration that recognized the six resilient sophomores. Emily Wilbur, Bianca Benavides, and Genia Taylor were joined in the starting line up by fellow sophomores Hannah Stanger and Elise Brady. Shoreline’s Chelsea Padgett was right off the bench as the sixth sophomore to grace the court one final time.

The Dolphins came out of the gates firing on all cylinders as the sophomore squad jumped out to an early 7-0 lead only a few minutes into the opening half. Shoreline would see their lead dwindle to one by the time the teams headed to the locker rooms. Benavides and Justice Perry both tallied eight points a piece in the first 20 minutes to pace the Dolphins. On the other hand, Kortney Grattic led all scorers with 12 first half points on 8 of 10 from the foul line.

The first half shooting statistics were fairly similar, but the noticeable advantage came at the free-throw line where the Orcas converted on 10 of 14 as a team, while the Dolphins only made one trip to the charity stripe all half.

The second half saw Shoreline open well with Benavides knocking down two perimeter shots, but after that the Dolphins hit a cold spell from the field. Whatcom would use the next few minutes to build a double-digit lead at the free-throw line where they remained for the remainder of the contest. The Orcas finished 32 of 41 at the line, which facilitated their run late in the second half to pull away from the Dolphins.

Whatcom’s Kortney Grattic finished with a game-high 27 points on a remarkable 25 of 27 from the free-throw line.

Shoreline’s Emily Wilbur capped off a great career with a team-high 16 points on 7 of 13 shooting from the floor. Justice Perry chipped in with 13 points off the bench. Bianca Benavides also scored in double-digits with 10 points in her final game in the white and green.

Though Shoreline dropped their final home game of the season, the Dolphins crowd was in full support as numerous players’ parents made the trip in town to watch their daughters compete live. The turn out to honor the six sophomores made the afternoon a special one as Head Coach Darnellia Russell spoke about each sophomore during the halftime festivities.