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

Freeman races into title game

Michael Anderson Special to The Spokesman-Review

YAKIMA – After being oh-so-close to a state championship shot a year ago the Freeman Scotties didn’t leave anything to chance in 2010.

Freeman dashed out to a 29-10 halftime lead and survived some anxious moments in the third period before dispatching Lynden Christian 50-32 in the girls State 1A basketball semifinals at the SunDome.

Freeman lost a heartbreaker to eventual champion Seattle Christian in the 2009 semifinals, a game that was decided by a free throw with no time remaining on the clock.

The Scotties (25-1) will play Granger (24-1) for the state title tonight at 9. The two schools played a first-round game in 2008. In that contest, a lightly regarded Granger team stunned Freeman 51-35 en route to a third-place trophy.

Freeman was efficient on both ends of the floor, forcing the usually poised Lyncs into turnovers that were converted into points and fouls that were also converted to points.

Of LC’s first seven fouls, six were shooting fouls that Freeman used for eight points. The 21 Lyncs turnovers in the half amounted to 22 Scotties points.

“That was the best we’ve played in the first half of a game right there,” Freeman coach Ashley Taylor said. “We were flat in the second half but finally the adrenaline of where they were picked them back up.”

As has been the case all week, guard Korina Baker was a terror on both ends in the half, grabbing five steals and scoring 12 points. The senior guard said that making certain there was no chance for a near miss was the only thing on the mind of the squad.

“After what happened last year, we weren’t taking any chances,” she said. “It was so close to us, we weren’t letting this one get away.”

Lynden Christian cut the deficit down to 34-25 at the start of the third period but Morgan Poirier hit three straight baskets to get the Scotties back on track and Freeman once again extended the lead.

Baker finished with 15 points, six steals and four assists to lead the Scotties attack. MacKenzie Taylor had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Poirier also had 10 points.

Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) 38, Okanogan 29: The Eagles (23-4) bounced back from a quarterfinal loss to advance to the game for fourth and seventh places behind 13 points from Kendra Lahue and 12 from Alex Daggy.

Lakeside will play Chelan today at 1:30 p.m. The trophy the Eagles win will be their seventh in their last seven state trips, spanning back to 2000.

The Eagles controlled the game and were up by as many as 11 points at 31-20 early in the fourth period.