The Mercer Island girls basketball team – who earned a first round bye in the district tournament – will be playing Lakeside tomorrow night starting at 6:30 p.m. at Bellevue College.

The girls, who had to top seed going into the tournament, are searching for one of the four state berths given to the KingCo and Metro league teams.

If the girls win on Friday night they will move into the semi-finals on March 2. Here’s a breakdown on the possibilities:

With a win: girls advance to 8:15 p.m. March 2 semi-final at Bellevue College. They will play either Nathan Hale or Seattle Prep (whoever wins)

With a loss: girls move into consolation bracket and play the loser of the Nathan Hale/Seattle Prep game. If the girls lose at any point after this they will be done for the season.

Also still alive in the girls tournament is Juanita, who will play Holy Names and Bellevue who goes up against Cleveland.

The championship game will be held March 6 at Bellevue College. The top four teams from this tournament advance to the state tournament in Tacoma March 10-13.

Here’s some notes on last night’s losses for Mercer Island against 4A Issaquah:

Girls basketball – assistant coach Beth Christofferson

On game standouts: Sarah Taylor is a fighter. She walked away with a mild concussion after an elbow to the head. She’s a battler.

Christofferson said Taylor’s concussion is very mild and she will likely only miss two or three days as a result.

Kate DaPron did not play last night and as a result the girls had some rebounding trouble, but Christofferson said they will be working on it and did come out stronger in the second half of the game.

Boys basketball – head coach Gavin Cree

On the team’s first official game with the 35 second shot clock. The Islanders never ran out of time, but Issaquah did at one point in the game.

We’ve spent a little bit of time with it, but not too much. To be honest, 35 seconds is a long time. We’ve played with it on trips to California many times. The shot clock has it’s biggest impact at the end of the game. In the past, teams have stalled when they have a lead. Now, coaches and players have to take the shot clock into consideration. We’ve talked most about using our defense to run down the clock for the opposing team.

On nerves: I really didn’t feel any nerves. I felt some adrenaline with the band and the fans there. We have such a great high school basketball atmosphere at Mercer Island. We remind our players to be thankful for that. As a player I think you are always anxious to tip-off and get started. I think our guys were a little tight, but I don’t think it was a big factor. As I’ve said before, it’s a long season. One of our focuses this year is moving to the “next play.” We’ve got to learn from this one and flush it away. I think we understand what we need to work on in order to be at our best later in the year.

See next week’s print edition for a full review of the game against Issaquah.