Forde's All-Around Effort Leads Woodinville Past Mt. Rainier in State Opener

All season, Ali Forde and the Woodinville Falcons have been pining for this. The opportunity to put last season's disappointing playoffs behind them, and realize the potential of their team.

After one game, all indications are Forde and company mean business.

In her team's opening round game versus Mt. Rainier held at Inglemoor High School, Forde dominated in leading the Falcons (20-5 overall) to a 65-41 win. The junior post player finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds, seven assists, six blocks and six steals to propel her team into the state quarterfinals beginning Thursday in Tacoma.

She was everywhere.

Mt. Rainier (21-5), a SPSL 4A school out of Des Moines, features a freshman forward named Brittney McPhee who belies her youth. The team finished third in the North division behind Auburn Riverside and Kentwood -- two of the top 4A teams in the state -- and second in their district with McPhee leading the way averaging 21.1 ppg.

Without question, the focus of Woodinville's defense was locking down McPhee.

"We knew she was a great player coming in," said Woodinville head coach Scott Bullock. "We knew she was going to get her points, we just didn't want her to go for 25-30, keeping her in the 15-20 area was key. We did a much better job on her in the second half."

Saddled with that difficult assignment was Forde, who in addition to being a key component in the Falcon's offense, was going to have to be the force on defense to give her team any shot at winning. She certainly did that Friday night.

While McPhee ended up doing exactly what coach Bullock expected -- scoring 18 points on 7 of 14 shooting and 3 of 3 from the line -- Forde's defense on her kept her from going for 30.

Almost all of Forde's six blocks and six steals came defending McPhee, who after scoring 13 points in the first half, relented to Forde's defense in the second in which she managed only five more as the Falcons pulled away.

"As a coach, to have a player like her, so versatile, so athletic ... I'm just extremely fortunate," Bullock said. "The only thing she can't do is shoot from the outside. But she has great speed for her size, she can handle the ball ... she leads our team in every category except for scoring."

The third quarter was the turning point. Both teams had their respective runs in the first half. Woodinville opening up a 9-2 lead and Mt. Rainier answering back to cut the lead to two, 16-14. But after closing the half with a 24-21 lead, the Falcons came out in the second half and showed just how much they've been waiting for this time of the season.

Woodinville opened on a 10-0 run that all but sealed the Rams' fate. Once again it was Forde who spurred the run with a steal on the Rams' first possession of the half, four points and two big assists to senior teammate Melissa Gilkey who finished with 14 points.

It was a performance, Friday, that the entire Woodinville program knew was awaiting them as long as No. 13 was healthy. After having minor surgery late last summer to repair her MCL in her right knee, keeping that joint healthy and pain free has been the focus of the Falcons down the stretch.

"She came to me a few weeks ago and said her knee had been bothering her a little," Bullock said. "So we had her checked out by a doctor and put her through some physical therapy and really tried to be careful with her (as the regular season concluded)."

As Woodinville wound down its regular season, winning eight consecutive games that eventually stretched to an 11-game win streak and a district championship, the team played Forde sparingly, keeping its ultimate goal of a state championship at the forefront of its mind.

"My dad didn't want me to play at all (down the stretch)," Forde explained. "I actually went into one game without being told to and my dad yelled at me. I had to be smart. We wanted to stay OK for this part, to be healthy for state."

Against Mt. Rainier, Forde played all but the final two minutes of the game. Leaving the court with 1:40 remaining and her team ahead 59-39.

For Forde, the win sending the Falcons to Tacoma was the culmination of a plan her and Gilkey and the rest of her senior teammates have had since the unfortunate end of last season. The culmination and the beginning.

Because as Forde outlined with one short sentence after the game, the team still has work to do. With a smile spreading across her face, Forde summed up the team's performance and defined its ultimate ambition: "So far, so good."