The Foster High School girls basketball team has made it to the postseason for the second year in a row under three-year head Coach Eric Smith.
The girls will play River Ridge High School at 7 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 11) at River Ridge, 350 River Ridge Dr. S.E., in Lacey in the first round of the 2016 West Central/SeaKing 2A Girls district basketball tournament.
The Foster girls finished the season with an overall record of 6-12 and was the No. 3 2A in the Seamount League. River Ridge finished the season 12-7 in the South Puget Sound League 2A division.
The winner will play at Foss High School in Tacoma at 1:45 p.m. Feb. 13. The loser is done for the season.
Coach Smith said his team hasn’t played River Ridge, but he has scouted the team.
“It feels great to make the playoffs, mainly because my team is so young, having six freshman on our roster; it will be great for experience,” he said.
This year’s captains were seniors Ariana Serafica, Ciara Muna and Kassandra Esparza.
“They all had a great season and showed leadership and patience with the young underclassmen we have,” Smith said.
One of the freshman on the Foster roster is Makana Montoya, who averaged 13.7 points per game and was the team’s leading scorer.
“I believe she is a very big piece of the future,” said Smith of Montoya, who is the sister of Max Montoya, who played basketball at Foster.
“What makes her special is how confident she is as a freshman, and her ability to handle all the pressure that is thrown at her to run a team as a freshman,” said Smith, who’s also impressed with her three-point shooting.
His team has excelled on defense this season, he said.
“They are starting to buy into our system and we believe if we can get our pressure down, we will be dangerous in the playoffs,” he said.
