St. George’s, W-C Earn State Berths

It would have been a fitting ending to a gritty performance if Aretha Franklin’s song “Respect” had come blaring through the public address system after the final buzzer.

After all, the St. George’s Dragons, despite a stellar 23-2 record, hadn’t made it into the boys top 10 until last week when they were finally recognized at No. 7.

Wednesday night, in the boys Northeast B District Tournament at Spokane Falls Community College, the Dragons improved their stock with a convincing 44-34 win over fifth-ranked Almira/Coulee-Hartline (18-4). They also earned a berth in the state tournament.

The Warriors seemingly had the game in hand after racing to a 28-18 lead 3 minutes into the third quarter. That’s when St. George’s coach Jennifer Mountain called her most important timeout of the season.

“We were playing with absolutely no emotion,” stated Mountain, who becomes just the second woman to coach a boys team in the state tourney. “I just pulled them over and told them it was now or never.”

It certainly changed momentum.

Over the final 13 minutes the Dragons outscored ACH 26-6, with Jason Ala scoring 10 of his game-high 16 points, including back-to-back baskets that gave them the lead for good during the run.

St. George’s advances to the title game on Friday against the winner of the Republic-Northwest Christian game for the top two seeds into the state tournament.

ACH goes up against the winner of the Reardan-Valley Christian contest in a loser-out game on Friday.

St. George’s 44, ACH 34

St. George’s 11 7 10 16 - 44

ACH 13 8 9 4 - 34

ST. GEORGE’S Tseng 8, Kennedy 2, Kuney 0, Charbonneau 0, Laugen 6, Ala 16, Averett 12.

ALMIRA/COULEE-HARTLINE Higginbotham 0, Pierce 2, Murray 8, Elder 0, Behne 0, Carstensen 10, Goodwin 10, Evers 4.

Girls

Wilbur-Creston 64, ACH 36

The Wilbur-Creston semifinal showdown with ACH had all the earmarks of a classic fight-to-the-finish.

It instead turned into the Jessica Martin-Mindy Bandy show.

Martin scored 20 points and snared 13 rebounds and Bandy tossed in a game-high 24 points to lead the third-ranked Wildcats to a spot in the state tourney.

“That was the best game we’ve played all year,” said Wildcats coach Steve Jantz. “We’ve been an up-and-down team at times, but in the tournament the girls have really come out ready to play.”

W-C took control in the second quarter when, with the score knotted at 10-10, Bandy keyed an 8-2 run with three rebound baskets in 90 seconds.

W-C (22-1) will take on the winner of the Reardan-St. George’s game for the top two seeds into the state tournament.

ACH (15-8), which was led by the 14 points of Christi Peterson, will play a loser-out game on Friday against the winner of the Selkirk-Liberty matchup.

Wilbur-Creston 10 17 14 23 - 64

ACH 10 10 5 11 - 36

WILBUR-CRESTON Mann 0, Allen 0, Llewellyn 2, Deahl 0, Martin 20, Erickson 8, L.Arden 0, H.Arden 6, Kunz 2, Bandy 24.

ALMIRA/COULEE-HARTLINE Pitts 0, Ke.Horter 1, Malone 4, Rock 3, Dormaier 2, Roberts 0, Peterson 14, Hunsaker 8, White 2, Ka.Horter 2.

Loser-out boys

Liberty 68, Selkirk 57

The Lancers (17-8) dominated the first and fourth quarters, by a 43-24 margin to beat the Rangers (19-7).

Tim Cornwall’s 3-point basket with 5 minutes left in the final period gave Liberty a 55-48 lead and the brothers Rafter, Phil and Jordan, combined to make 8 of 8 at the free throw line in the final 2:30 to seal the victory.

Ninth-ranked Liberty advances to a loser-out game on Friday against the loser of today’s Northwest ChristianRepublic matchup.

Liberty 21 15 10 22 - 68

Selkirk 10 19 14 14 - 57

LIBERTY Engle 3, Cory 0, P.Rafter 17, Horlacher 3, Cooper 0, J.Rafter 15, Cornwall 14, Tee 0, Greenwalt 16, Mix 0.

SELKIRK S.Davis 0, Kinney 6, Larson 1, Farris 4, Gere 0, J.Davis 17, Pichette 16, Pyeatte 0, Huffine 0, Dial 13, Fandrey 0.

Loser-out girls

NWC 32, Columbia 26

Jana Huston scored a game-high 13 points and pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to lead the Crusaders (16-9) past the Lions (13-12).

Northwest Christian made just 13 of 41 shots from the floor, while Columbia managed just 12-for-50 shooting, 2 of 20 from 3-point range.

The Crusaders advance to a loser-out game Friday against the Reardan-St. George’s loser.

Columbia 4 6 10 6 - 26

NW Christian 6 6 11 9 - 32

COLUMBIA Etue 3, Skidmore 9, Schurger 4, Strickler 2, Brisbois 8, Dale 0, Dashiell 0.

NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN Storro 0, Simmons 10, K.Smith 0, Greenup 3, E.Smith 2, Montague 2, Wright 2, Huston 13. , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: TODAY’S NEB GAMES Boys Valley Chr. (12-13) vs. Reardan (19-3) (loser out), 3:15 p.m. Republic (21-3) vs. NWC (16-9) (winner to state), 7:45 p.m. Girls Selkirk (17-7) vs. Liberty (11-13) (loser out), 1:30 p.m. Reardan (15-7) vs. St. George’s (18-6) (winner to state), 6 p.m.