Comment on Top-ranked Prairie girls upend No. 5 West Seattle in King Showcase

KENT — When it came to the state tournament last season, Brooke Walling remembers the stark differences down to the details. Faster face of play. More physical. Heightened pressure. “It was definitely a culture shock,” Walling said. So when the No. 1 Prairie girls basketball team beat No. 5 West Seattle in the annual King Showcase at Kent’s ShoWare Center 58-50 on Monday in a battle between two top five teams in the 3A classification, it passed a test that a year ago, the Falcons saved for March. Call it a bit of validation, if you will. “It helps us know that we can compete with all these teams up north,” Walling said. Cassidy Gardner hit four 3-pointers in the first half, and the Falcons held West Seattle to four points in the third quarter to build a lead and hold on. Gardner scored 19 points, a team high.