BELLINGHAM – It had been a week since the Meridian girls basketball team played a game, and it was eager to get after it early on against Blaine. The Trojans jumped out to a big lead early, and eventually won 50-32 at Meridian High School on Friday night.
Suffocating defense and efficient offense allowed Meridian to jump out to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter. The Trojans, who’s only loss of the season was by one point to Bellevue Christian, are off to a tremendous start, but coach Mark Gilmore says it’s a different team than last year’s squad that reached the state tournament.
“We have more of an inside presence on this year’s team,” Gilmore said. “Everything looks good on paper, but we have to be more consistent. We played two totally different halves tonight.”
The Borderites, although limited with the amount of players, were able to outscore the Trojans in the second half.
Freshman wing Finnely Claeys led the Trojans in scoring with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Senior Makenna Holz contributed with 11 points and had a game-high four steals.
The Borderites got a strong showing from senior Ashley Dickerson, who had a pair of steals that she took coast-to-coast in the fourth quarter for easy layups. She finished with a team-high 13 points.
Meridian senior Lexi Groen had a great all-around game, scoring eight points while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out a team-high five assists. Junior post player Jolee Sipma also made her presence known in the paint with eight points as well as team-highs in rebounds (8) and blocks (3).
The Trojans (11-1) remain undefeated in conference play but have big game on Monday night when they travel to Lynden (10-2) to take on the Lions, who are also undefeated in the conference.
“We have to match Lynden’s energy,” said Gilmore. “It’s going to be a great test going on the road and playing up there. We have to match their intensity.”
The Borderites (5-6) will try to get back into the win column when the host Ferndale (8-4) on Tuesday night.
Meridian 50, Blaine 32
BLA 9 5 9 9 — 32
MER 20 13 14 3 — 50
MER: Bowler 2, Schleimer 5, Claeys 13, Holz 11, Groen 8, Moore 2, Martin 0, Sipma 8, James 1, Zander 0, Aalpoel 0, Vekved 0, Blankers 0.
BLA: Hallberg 7, Pike 5, Dickerson 13, DePauw 2, Mulryan 0, Kamrath 5, Bullard 0, Hockstedler 0.
3-Pointers: MER 4 (Claeys 3, Schleimer); BLA 2 (Dickerson, Kamrath). Rebounds: MER 35 (Sipma 8); BLA 31 (DePauw 12). Assists: MER 19 (Groen 5); BLA 6 (Kamrath 3). Steals: 9 (Holz 4); BLA 10 (Pike 3, Dickerson 3). Blocks: MER 7 (Sipma 3); BLA 4 (Pike 3).
