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Recaps, highlights from quarterfinals at 4A and 3A state girls basketball tournaments
Between the Class 4A and 3A girls state tournaments, 30 high school basketball games will be played in the Tacoma Dome this weekend. The News Tribune will be at all of them, providing game recaps, highlights, interviews, stats and more.
Follow along for live updates from Thursday’s quarterfinals:
CLASS 4A
Quarterfinals
No. 11 Kennedy Catholic 62, No. 5 Gonzaga Prep 52
If you’ve never heard the name Jayden Fitzgerald before or seen her play, the first time you watch you may be tempted to look at your program for more information on the standout guard.
That number 10 next to her grade in school is not a mistake.
The sophomore may be young and she may be small in stature, but the 5-foot-5 point guard is filling up the stat sheet and has the No. 11 Crusaders one game away from the 4A state championship game.
Fitzgerald scored a game-high 32 points to lead the Crusaders to a 65-52 victory over No. 5 Gonzaga Prep in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
“That’s Jayden Fitzgerald,” Kennedy Catholic head coach Michael Brooks said. “She’s the leader of our team. She’s humble. She’s the hardest worker. And she puts people in places to be successful. We’re blessed to be able to have her as our point guard. She makes everybody better and it’s a fun thing to witness. She doesn’t need the acclaim. She just wants to play as hard as she can and have everyone play that hard with her.
“It’s just cool to watch a 15-year-old be able to play that way.”
Fitzgerald led the Crusaders scoring attack in Wednesday’s loser-out win over No. 3 Chiawana with 15, but shot just 3 of 13 from the field and nine of those 15 points came from the free-throw line.
Fitzgerald shot a much better percentage on Thursday, finishing 11-for-23 from the field, including 2-for-3 from three-point range.
“They couldn’t stay in front of me, so (I) was just attacking every time,” Fitzgerald said.
The Crusaders (19-7) entered the tournament as the No. 11 seed, but that is nothing more than a number to Fitzgerald and her teammates.
“It doesn’t mean anything to us,” she said. “We expected to be in this spot.”
Kennedy led 49-46 after three quarters, but outscored the Bullpups (22-2) 16-6 in the final quarter to pull away.
“We just knew we could do it,” Fitzgerald said. “We were just being aggressive and we had to rebound. We had that stretch where we couldn’t rebound, so just rebounding.”
Fitzgerald credited rebounding with helping the Crusaders pull away. Brooks praised his team’s defensive effort and their effort on the boards.
“Being able to play man and zone and having a team that can battle and do different things, it really helps us out,” Brooks said. “We were forcing them to take some tough shots. And then rebounding. Once we were able to establish our rebounding presence, that allowed us to get out in transition.”
Kennedy Catholic will play defending state champion and top-seed Davis at 3:45 p.m. Friday with the winner of that game heading to the state championship game on Saturday.
“It’s probably going to be our hardest game,” Fitzgerald said. “But we can show up and give a battle, so we’re just all going to show up and do that for each other.”
No. 1 Davis 76, No. 10 Lake Stevens 56
The top-ranked Pirates rolled past the Vikings to return to the semifinals for a third straight season on Thursday.
Davis (22-2), which won the title in 2025, was led in scoring by junior Isa Garcia, who finished with 24 points, shooting 10-for-20 from the field and making four 3s.
“She played her normal game,” Davis head coach Akil White said. “She’s an underrated kid.
While Garcia led the team in scoring, fellow junior Cheyenne Hull had the most impressive stat line. She almost quietly finished with 22 points, 18 rebounds and seven assists.
“I think the bigger picture is just the score (of the game), Hull said. “The rebounding is kind of my biggest thing, like just get boards no matter what. When I know some people are making shots, I’ll go clean it up and get it back to them. I’m just kind of worried about playing defense. I’m not really paying attention to my (scoring).”
Hull and Garcia were joined in double-digit scoring by junior Kobe Johnson (12) and senior Deets Parrish (10).
The Pirates will play No. 11 Kennedy Catholic at 3:45 p.m. on Friday for a spot in the state championship game.
UP NEXT
No. 6 Lake Washington vs. No. 4 Woodinville, 12:15 p.m.
No. 8 Sumner vs. No. 2 Union, 2 p.m.
CLASS 3A
Quarterfinals
No. 11 Lakeside vs. No. 4 Roosevelt, 3:45 p.m.
No. 7 Evergreen vs. No. 1 Bellevue, 5:30 p.m.
No. 12 White River vs. No. 6 Eastside Catholic, 7:15 p.m.
No. 9 Stanwood vs. No. 2 Snohomish, 9 p.m.
