Reardan girls move on to State 2B final eight

The Reardan girls basketball team is looking for a challenge, something it hasn’t had all season.

The defending-champion Indians continued its string of lopsided wins Saturday night and secured a spot in next week’s State 2B tournament with a 78-20 rout of Entiat in a regional final at Mt. Spokane High School.

Kelsey Moos, Chantel Heath and Katy Burge all scored 12 points as Reardan grabbed control from the outset. The Indians jumped into passing lanes and forced 17 Entiat turnovers in the first half. The turnovers led to easy buckets, and the rout was on.

“This was our best, smartest and most complete game of the year,” Reardan coach Ed Shields said.

That’s saying something, considering the Indians have won all 24 of their games this year with an average margin of victory of 35 points.

Moos led the charge. She had 11 rebounds with five coming on the offensive end.

“We’re a really aggressive team and we really get after each other in practice,” Moos said.

Shields said Entiat star Mandy Southard, who scored 40 points in a district tournament game Feb. 17 against Pateros, was a major focus defensively. Southard finished 0 for 5 from the floor and scored three points.

Every member of the Indians scored as just about every shot found the bottom of the net.

“Sometimes the ball just seems to fall and I don’t know whether it’s the basketball gods or not, but it was just one of those nights,” Shields said.

Next up is the state tournament Thursday through Saturday at the Spokane Arena.

Shields said he hopes his squad will get a chance to play Brewster. The Bears beat Reardan at the regional tournament last year. Either way, he’s excited for a challenge.

“I think we’re going to be tested,” he said.

White Swan 65, Northwest Christian 55: The Cougars took control in the fourth quarter and eliminated the Crusaders (20-6) in the other regional final at Mt. Spokane.

Amber Jones scored 13 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth and White Swan did just enough to deny Northwest Christian a spot at the state tournament.

Treasure Farmer had 14 points and Courtney Gray added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Crusaders. Hannah Dietzen chipped in 10 points and nine boards.