Despite the playoff atmosphere that was clearly felt in the Terraceum on Wednesday night against the Stanwood Spartans, the women’s Hawks basketball team stayed true to themselves and played the same type of game which they had all year long. That meant a stifling, physical defense and a high tempo offense.

It was a close and hard fought contest all night long, with the Hawks barely coming away with a 57-52 victory due to a late push by the Spartans. With just over a minute and thirty seconds to play the Spartans trailed the Hawks just 50-47 despite trailing 48-41 just two minutes earlier in the game.

Romanowski answered the 6-2 Stanwood run with a huge three pointer, increasing the Hawks lead to 53-47 and the Hawks never looked back, sans a small hiccup on an inbound play where the Hawks forced a pass and turned the ball over to Stanwood, who failed to take advantage and ended up actually turning the ball back over to the Hawks.

All season long the Hawks were forced to overcome adversity and Wednesday night was no different. With 3:30 to play in the game, senior post Maddy Kristjanson, who finished with just four points but was huge for the Hawks in terms of rebounding and on the defensive side of the court, fouled out of her final home game in her high school career.

Just a few minutes later, with a little over 30 seconds to play, senior Nikkie Forhelich picked up her fifth personal foul, also fouling out of her final game in the Terraceum on a difficult inbounds call as she and a Stanwood player got tangled up before the ball was passed inbounds. Forhelich finished with 15 points.

Also helping lead the Hawks’ offensive attack were Romanowski and senior Kirsty Dale, who finished with 16, a team high, and 10 points respectively.

The Hawks will play the Meadowdale Mavericks (8-13) on Saturday at 8pm at Lynnwood High School. The Hawks defeated the Mavericks 40-36 and 48-32 earlier in the year. The Mavericks defeated the Everett Seagulls 51-45 on Wednesday to advance to the second round.