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March 3, 2004 :: Home This story is part of "Tourney Titans," a special section profiling the top players and teams in the history of the Class 1A state basketball tournament. |
The Best Game Ever? Mount Baker-Foster semifinal in 1986 considered by some to be history's best state-tournament game By SCOTT SANDSBERRY YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC They were on the same court, you know, in a game that really mattered. Years before they were voted the best two players in the history of the Class 1A tournament, Susan Anderson and Sherri Johnson met in a game that many tournament followers regard as the most exciting "important" contest -- semifinal or final -- the tourney has ever had. "That had to be the best game," says Renae (Duffie) Nilles, then a 6-foot-1 center for Foster and one of the Bulldogs' "twin towers." The other "tower," of course, was the 6-foot Johnson, who a year later would set single-tournament and single-game (50) scoring records for the tournament. In 1986, though, Johnson was sharing the spotlight with Duffie, and the two stars had combined for more than 40 points a game (Duffie 21.6, Johnson 20.9) for the team that would be voted the second-best ever in a regular season that was nothing short of phenomenal. The Bulldogs won their 20 regular-season games by an average of 42.8 points. Their victims included six Class AAA teams -- then the state's largest classification -- including the eventual first-, third- and fourth-place finishers in the AAA state tournament. "I felt like, if we could beat six of the best AAA schools, we had a chance of going all the way," says Nilles, who had started on Foster teams that had lost in the semifinals of two of the previous three years. Then came the 1986 semifinals. The opponent: Mount Baker, who had an all-state guard in 5-11 Lynn Munday (15.4 points per game) and a 6-2 center who would ultimately be named the consensus national player of the year. The latter was Anderson, whose season average of 24.2 would have been much higher had not coach Jim Freeman routinely pulled her in one-sided victories. And that was often; 10 of the Mounties' victories were by 29 points or more. "Oh yeah, she was a stud," Nilles says of Anderson. "That was our No. 1 goal, to shut her down." Easier said than done. The Bulldogs stuck with their trademark man-to-man defense, with Johnson usually on Anderson -- and Duffie occasionally handling that role, though she was usually defending Munday. "Sherri played her man-to-man and 'butted' her -- she put her butt in (Anderson's) stomach and wouldn't let them lob it in to her," says Tim Parker, then Foster's coach. "Sherri could jump so well that she wouldn't let it happen." Still, Anderson scored 10 first-quarter points as the Mounties built a three-point lead, which grew to eight before halftime. "Foster was just killing everybody. I knew our kids were a little intimidated," Freeman says of how he had prepared his team for the showdown. "I told them, when you watch Foster play and you see them in the press, watch carefully: They don't move that well. They play good position and they do the right things, but if you attack their press, they don't move that well. "So our kids went out and attacked, and Foster was on their heels." Parker was impressed by the Mounties' strategy. "They had a darn good game plan, and boy, to put it into a half-court game and we wanted to play a full-court game, he (Freeman) did really well," he says. "Some great coaching." The Mounties remained in control until the third quarter, when Anderson picked up her second, third and fourth fouls. With Mount Baker's star having to play a little more tentatively, the Bulldogs regained the momentum and pulled into a 36-36 tie early in the fourth quarter on a long jumper by senior guard Kelly Williams. But the Mounties pulled ahead again as Munday and Carla Hoines each hit a pair of baskets. With 2 1/2 minutes remaining, Mount Baker had the ball and a six-point lead. Munday whipped a pass inside toward Anderson, who grabbed the ball for what would have been an easy basket and an eight-point lead. But in getting to the ball, Anderson collided with Bulldog forward Diana Reiners. A referee's whistle blew. And everything stopped. "I didn't see it," Freeman says of the play that led to the foul call. "I was turning and talking to somebody, I heard the whistle blow and I said, 'Oh, I hope that wasn't on Susan.' " It was. Foul No. 5. "I was probably three feet ahead of it and turning back, that's how I remember it," Hoines says. "My mind kind of saying, NO ... It all just happened so fast that you're instantly thinking, 'No, this can't be happening.' " It was. Anderson, who had made eight of her 10 field-goal attempts in the game, was gone. Was it a foul? Parker has always said he didn't think a foul should have been called. Anderson says she really doesn't remember whether she thought it was a foul or not. "At the time," she says, "you just kind of take it with the game. I didn't think that much about it." And Freeman didn't see it. "(Parker) has told me a couple of times since then, 'You know, that was no foul, I have it on film, you want to see it?' I tell him no," Freeman says. "I don't need to live through that moment again." So Anderson was gone. The Bulldogs, though, were still behind by six points with time running short. "Parker said to us, 'OK, if we're going to do it, we need to make it happen now,' " recalls Nilles. "We had come too far to get beat again in the semifinal. It was probably the longest two or three minutes in our lives ... and that was a good thing." A putback by Johnson and back-to-back baskets by Duffie -- one on a steal and assist by Johnson -- tied the game with 30 seconds remaining. Mount Baker came downcourt to play for the last shot, but with the clock under 10 seconds, Foster's Williams picked off a pass and everybody sprinted for the other end. In the middle of the court, left uncovered, was Bulldog guard Tracy Sanderson, who had taken only two shots all game and missed both. "Tracy was wide open under the basket and Kelly's dribbling down the sideline, and I can remember Tracy just screaming for the ball," Nilles says. In the instant Williams saw Sanderson and whipped the ball in her direction, Nilles remembers thinking: Oh my God, we're finally going to the championship game. She was right. Sanderson scored as the final two seconds ticked off the clock. Anderson and Duffie each scored 16 points. Johnson finished with 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. "That game," Hoines says, "will be the game everyone at Mount Baker will always remember every moment of." They're not alone.
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