MILL CREEK — The Lady Tomahawks’ comeback bid fell just short of a District 1 title in a 60-55 loss to Lake Stevens, Feb. 27 at Jackson High School.

“We just panicked a little bit,” said coach Julie Martin. “And we did things that we normally don’t do.”

Those things included throwing errant passes, fouling and forgetting defensive assignments.

“We knew who their shooters and their drivers were,” said Martin, whose team split a pair of regular season meetings with the Vikings. “And we did a good job on their drivers, we just didn’t get out quick enough for their shooters.”

Lake Stevens shooters nailed four three-pointers — all by different shooters — in the first half to stay with Marysville-Pilchuck, tying the halftime score at 27-27.

It seemed as if whenever the Vikings needed a big shot they got one from long distance, but it was really an 8-0 run late in the third quarter that left the Tomahawks fighting to stay in the game.

Lake Stevens did something that most teams haven’t been able to do all season — slow down the Marysville offense. And they did it by pressuring full-court and using a 2-3 zone that pressed in all four corners.

“I think that zone kind of caught us by surprise,” Martin said.

The zone slowed down M-P’s pace and, with Lake Stevens’ length, made it difficult to find open shots. Marysville countered with a high-low game that positioned Dacia Heckendorf at the free throw line and Emily Enberg on the block, which penetrated the zone for about a half quarter.

“But then they just packed it in and we weren’t able to get much going,” Martin said.

Marysville brought a 51-41 deficit down to just two points in a matter of three minutes, due to 3-pointers by Andi Adams, Heckendorf and Becca Lentz, but Stevens pulled away, making six consecutive free throws to earn the district crown.

“We really wanted this one, but we know that we’ve still got to keep playing,” said Martin, whose team qualified for the 4A state tournament last week. “We’ve got a big week ahead of us and we’ve got a lot of work to do to finish where we want.”

Adams scored a game-high 13 while Heckendorf added 11. Three Vikings scored 11 points with Corinne Burke, Brooke Pahukoa and Stephanie Schumacker splitting the work load.

The 4A state tournament began March 3 at the Tacoma Dome. M-P drew Garfield in the opening round at 7 p.m.