Perennial 2B power Colfax loses opener to White Swan

For sure, the Colfax Bulldogs had a decent shot at defending their state girls 2B title.

But the shots wouldn’t fall, costing the Bulldogs dearly in a 39-37 quarterfinal loss to White Swan on Thursday afternoon at the Arena.

Out of 39 shots from the field, Colfax made 13, and just five in the second half.

“It’s tough when the shots won’t drop,” coach Corey Baerlocher said.

So, instead of moving on to the semifinals and a chance for their fourth state title in seven years, the Bulldogs (23-4) will face play Napavine in a loser-out game today at 1 p.m.

“We came out and shot the ball really well and then kind of tapered off and never got that momentum back,” lamented Baerlocher, whose team led by as many as 11 in the second quarter.

But the Cougars (17-7) chipped away before halftime, trailing only 24-20 at the break despite giving up five 3-pointers in the first 16 minutes.

“The most we’d given up in a game was six,” said White Swan coach Don Jones said. “So I grilled them a bit at halftime … I told them, ‘you’ve got to guard your man.’ ”

As the Cougars tightened their defense, the Bulldogs tightened up. They didn’t manage a field goal until almost 6 minutes were gone in the third quarter. Amazingly, they still led 28-26 when it ended, but the tide had turned.

“I probably should have used my timeouts earlier in the second half, to get things refocused,” said Baerlocher, who watched his team endure a physical, loosely-called game, yet step to the free-throw line just 11 times. And make just five foul shots.

“It was a very physical game, and there wasn’t a reward for absorbing that physical play, so it started playing with their psyche a little bit,” Baerlocher said.

White Swan center Emily Boykin picked up her fourth foul midway through the third quarter, but hung in and made some big defensive plays. Cougar point guard Cayla Jones did the rest, driving and picking up 9 of her game-high 20 points at the line.

Colfax had several chances to pull out the win. Scout Cai’s layin forged a 35-all tie on a layin with 1:51 left, but 9 seconds later, Jones drove the lane and made two foul shots for a 37-35 lead.

Thirty seconds later, Jones made another foul shot, but Cai made a layin with 17 seconds left to trim the lead to 38-37. White Swan almost turned over the ball on the throw-in, but clinched the game on another foul shot from Jones and a late steal.

Cai had 12 points and Amara Huber had nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.