BJ Shannon is Prepared to Bring the State Trophy Home

SEATTLE-The O’Dea Fighting Irish are heading to the state tournament again for their 5th time in a row. The Fighting Irish beat Rainier Beach High School 74-58 on Tuesday February 14th. They will move on in districts to play number two ranked Bellevue high school this Thursday.

This team has been working hard this whole season to get to this point. They understand that basketball is more than what is just going on during the games, it is a combination of everything on and off the court. The Fighting Irish are heading into the state tournament with a team-oriented mindset.

“What we are doing different is coming together as a team and building better chemistry every day in practice so that it leads to the games,“said O’Dea’s junior guard BJ Shannon.

Shannon is an essential part of this team. He is one of the best defenders on the team having to guard some of the best guards in the state every single matchup.

Shannon leads the team with his dog-like mentality, wanting to win and willing to do whatever it takes. This whole team is hungry to win and is ready to face any adversity to get this state championship.

“Our mindset is different now because we are in a situation if we lose another game are season will be over, so we have to have that mentality to go out there and win.”

This Fighting Irish team has had to suffer a lot of adversity like losing close games but that is only adding fuel to the fire for state.

The Irish will find out their seeding for the state tournament after districts are all finished. They are in the semi-finals of districts right now with the final game being on February 18th.

O’Dea’s roster is deep so going against top competition is nothing new for them. They practice hard and compete against each other every day. So in state when they are playing top players every game it will be nothing new to them.

“We are ready to go, and we prepare at practice every day."

The Fighting Irish have been preparing and are locked in and ready to bring the state title back to the O.