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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Colton, Gar-Pal make semis

Mike Anderson Special to The Spokesman-Review

YAKIMA – Thursday afternoon might have been a week after Valentine’s Day, but it was the perfect time for Colton coach Clark Vining to have what he termed a “heart-to-heart” talk with his team.

Vining’s Wildcats took his words to heart – pun intended – in the second half of their State 1B girls basketball tournament quarterfinal game with Almira/Coulee-Hartline, stepping up their defensive effort past intensity to stifling en route to a 52-35 win at the SunDome.

The third-ranked Wildcats are right back where they were a year ago – in the semifinals, this time against Touchet. They are joined – again in the other half of the bracket – by a Whitman County League rival, Garfield-Palouse.

The Wildcats used a 24-15 second-half advantage to pull away in a game that was closer at halftime than the 28-20 score indicated.

“I suggested that we start guarding people,” Vining said. “It was like our feet were in cement in the first half.

“We talked about what it takes to win a game.”

The first quarter finished even at 11 and the Warriors were within three when Mollie Kramer stepped up.

Coming of the bench, Kramer gave the Wildcats the lift it seemed they needed in the final 1:12 of the half, putting in a layup off an offensive rebound and following that 37 seconds later with a 3-pointer from the left wing. That gave the Wildcats some breathing room and put in place the foundation for Colton’s defense to dominate the third period.

Kramer finished the half with five rebounds – four of them offensive – to complement her scoring.

Garfield-Palouse 43, St. John-Endicott 19: The rugged Vikings defense limited the Eagles to one field goal in the first 13:05, racing to an 18-6 halftime lead and moved into the 9 p.m. semifinal against Sunnyside Christian.

That is a rematch of the opening game of the 2007 tournament, a game Gar-Pal lost.

Gar-Pal wasted little time establishing control and beating the Eagles for the third time in four meetings this season. The Vikings can, with two wins, add a state championship trophy to the second-place finish in 1977 and the third place in 1985.

SJE will play Entiat in a loser-out game at 2 p.m. That winner advances to Saturday’s game for fourth and seventh places. A win is needed to keep the program’s state trophy streak alive at 10.

The Eagles just could not get untracked on the offensive end of the floor. When they did get shots, they got one – they shot 14 percent from the floor. Much of the time they didn’t even get shots, getting outrebounded 21-11 and getting just one offensive board.

Even with a comfortable lead in the final period the Vikings’ defense didn’t relax.

“We told them today we wanted to get back to what we do which is play good, solid man-to-man defense,” coach Steve Swinney said. “They kept it up all night.”

Bridget Bower led Gar-Pal with 11 points. Kelly Van Lith had five for SJE.

Lummi 43, Curlew 33: The Blackhawks (18-6) rode their defense to a victory over the Cougars (15-12) in a loser-out game.

Lorissa Cultee scored a team-high nine points for Lummi, but it was a stifling defense that forced 24 turnovers and held Curlew to 22 percent shooting that claimed victory.

Larissa Miller and Mackenzie Wilson each had 13 points for Curlew.