The Mount Si girls basketball team is very much in the hunt for the number-three spot in the Kingco Tournament.

Getting there, though, has not been easy, and the Wildcats will have to earn it.

Mount Si survived a difficult second half and posted a 64-44 win over the Interlake Saints last Friday, Jan. 5, at Interlake High School in Bellevue. Mount Si was led by 14 points from Stevie Riley, 12 from Kassidy Maddux and 10 from Karly Thompson.

“It was a win, it was a W, but it was an ugly W,” said Wildcat coach Megan Botulinski.

“It was very messy,” echoed Riley. “We should have held together more than we did and ran our offense a lot more than we did, but we pulled it out.”

Mount Si started out a bit slow, leading 13-8 after one quarter. But the Wildcats broke it open in the second frame behind Maddux, who scored eight of her dozen points in that stanza. Mount Si led 34-23 at half, then pulled away in the third.

Interlake did their best to make things interesting throughout the second half, and with several Wildcats in foul trouble for most of the half, it presented some problems for Mount Si. But the Wildcats held their own, and hit a number of free throws in the fourth quarter that helped calm things down considerably.

“We’re getting much better at rebounding, much better at our shots,” Maddux said. “Our shots just keep going in and we’re loving it.”

Sarah Anderegg scored a game-high 24 to lead Interlake, whose playoff hopes took a serious hit with the loss. As a 2A school, the team needs 10 wins to reach postseason; they are currently one win away from that mark.

Going into the game with the Saints, the Wildcats had seen some heroic performances in key games as of late. Another one in their game last Wednesday, Feb. 3, helped Mount Si seal a huge road win.

Riley’s three-pointer late in the game broke a 46-46 tie and lifted the Wildcats to a hard-fought 49-46 win over the Juanita Rebels at Juanita High School in Kirkland. Hailey Eddings led the way with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Traci Nelson aided the Wildcat cause with 12 points.

The play that decided it happened with 15 seconds left in regulation.

All Juanita could do after Riley hit her shot was watch the clock run down to double zeroes. Kimberly Baba scored 22 to lead the Rebels.

Mount Si is at Mercer Island Thursday, Feb. 11, at 5:30 p.m. Botulinski wants fans to expect the best of her team.

“We had a great game against Juanita. It was fantastic and I think that you can expect some of that same basketball,” the coach said.