Jaydia Martin’s senior season at Hudson’s Bay didn’t end the way she had hoped.
But considering a few months ago, she didn’t even think she’d get a chance to play with her Bay teammates, the Eastern Washington signee took a moment to take in her final game on Bay’s floor Wednesday night.
Martin scored a team-high 20 points, but two second-half runs by Tumwater propelled the visiting Thunderbirds to a 61-45 win over Bay in the 2A district girls basketball semifinals.
The loss ended the Eagles’ eight-game win streak that included a 7-0 run through the 2A Greater St. Helens League.
“This run this year was pretty cool,” Martin said. “We made a statement. We won league for the first time in a long time here at Bay. So that was great to do. We just came up short today.”
Tumwater ended the third quarter by hitting four consecutive 3-pointers to go up 42-33.
The Eagles answered with two 3-pointers of their own — one by Martin — to cut the deficit to 42-39 with about six minutes to play.
Then they went on a scoring drought that lasted more than four minutes as Tumwater pushed its advantage to 55-39 with 1:42 to go.
But looking back at her time at Bay, Martin was filled with pride.
“It was really great to be part of the team that came up together and made a name for ourselves,” she said. “It’s definitely something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my career. And being able to uplift all the other girls too, because the girls who came in even later are like my sisters. So I’m just glad I got to experience that with them. And I’ll leave it to them to keep carrying on the legacy for us.”
Martin came into the program along with current seniors Kamelai Powell and Stacia Mikaele, and Bay finished fourth in the 3A GSHL.
Her sophomore year, Aniyah Hampton, who scored 14 points on Wednesday, joined the program and the Eagles reached the state tournament for the first time in 12 years.
Last season, Bay fought through injuries to return to the 3A state tournament when they won a game to reach the Tacoma Dome.
“We added players to our roster pretty much every year, but injuries have been happening,” Martin said. “So this was our first real year like all together and everybody being able to play. So I’m just grateful to have everybody play together and just know what that feels like.”
Last winter, Martin thought the only chance she would have to play with her Bay teammates was when she played on an AAU team with three of them.
“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t even think we were going to have a season,” she said. “I wasn’t really preparing for it until I heard that we could. So I was extra excited to be able play. So I’m just grateful to play too because I didn’t think this was going to happen at all.”
And then the moment caught up with Martin.
“I didn’t think we’d have any games at home,” her voice filled with emotion, “or that I would have a last senior game here.”
