TACOMA — The Mountain View girls basketball team came to Tacoma on Friday knowing it had two chances to clinch its the program’s first state-playoff berth in 24 years. After letting a golden opportunity to clinch that berth slip away last weekend,  the Thunder didn’t want to leave anything to chance on Friday. Mountain View rallied from an early deficit, then fended off a comeback attempt by Bellarmine Prep to beat the Lions 54-44 in the 3A bi-district playoffs to clinch a state berth. “I just go to that River Ridge game,” Mountain View coach Chuck Knight said of the Thunder’s 50-47 overtime loss last Saturday in the 3A bi-district quarterfinals. “That was a tough loss. That hurt. We felt like we let an opportunity slip away. The consequences of that loss were huge.”

It sent the Thunder into the consolation bracket, needing two more wins to clinch a state berth. Mountain View got the first Tuesday against Silas. The second looked like it might get away from the Thunder after Bellarmine Prep jumped out to a 15-7 lead after the first quarter. But Mountain View responded by scoring the first eight points in the second quarter to get back in the game. “I think a lot of it is we just have sheer will,” junior Layla Senderson said. “We didn’t want to lose this one because it was going to hurt really bad if we had to stay the night here. I think everyone wanted to go home on a good note.”

Senderson had to show some sheer will just to finish the game. The junior had to be helped to the bench with 5:50 left in the third quarter with an ankle injury after scrambling for a loose ball with a Bellarmine’s Stella Wiggins. “She scared me,” senior teammate Sveva Bernasconi said. “She really scared me.” Senderson returned to the game about three minutes later and the game tied 27-27. The Thunder then went on a 12-3 run to end the quarter with Senderson and sophomore Mylee Thompson both hitting big 3-pointers. Clinging to a 39-30 lead, the Thunder started battling foul trouble. Thompson picked up her fourth foul with 7:00 left, and Jadlyn Senderson picked up her fourth 30 seconds later. “It’s been a constant struggle for us,” Knight said. “We get in foul trouble because the kids are the type that just want to compete so much that sometimes they overdo things. You don’t want to take too much of that out of them, but we just got to play smarter.”

Bernasconi said the Thunder knew it was going to be a physical game. “We came knowing that they were going to foul us,” Bernasconi said. “They were going to hit our arms. We had to be prepared for that, not react to the refs, and just try to play through it.” Senderson said: “No one will ever hit us harder than we hit each other in practice.” And the Thunder also hit some big shots down the stretch. Amaya Paschal hit a 3-pointer to put Mountain View up 46-37 with 3:03 left to play. Jadlyn Senderson hit another 3-pointer to put the Thunder up 51-39 with 2:14 to go. The Lions didn’t get closer than seven points the rest of the way. Thompson and Layla Senderson led the Thunder with 13 points each, and Jadlyn Senderson scored 12 points.

The Thunder went home happy Friday night. They’ll await to see who they meet in the state playoffs on Sunday. “It’s so rewarding seeing all the effort we put in practice,” Bernasconi said. “We know how hard we work in practice every day. Even maybe other people are not working, we’re always working. And all the effort being rewarded feels really, really good.” MOUNTAIN VIEW 54, BELLARMINE PREP 44 MOUNTAIN VIEW — Mylee Thompson 13, Jadlyn Senderson 12, Layla Senderson 13, Collette Kuffner 0, Sveva Bernasconi 6, Camaria Brown 2, Amaya Paschal 7, Ashlee Heer 1. Totals 16 (8) 14-18 54 BELLARMINE PREP — Saphia Lazrak 1, Jalyee Laxamana 4, Kyla Frazier 10, Bella Pingrey 0, Alyssa Dawkins 5, Stella Wiggins 5, Jaela Jones 5, Sydney Hanna 0, Melina Petramalo 14. Totals 14 (4) 12-22 44

Mtn. View        7            15          17          15—54 Bellarmine     15          8            7            14—44