Ritzville Girls Capture Washington B Championship

Shannon Russel hit a key 3-point shot with 41 seconds left to lead Ritzville past cold-shooting Wilbur-Creston 33-26 in Saturday night’s championship of the Washington Class B girls tournament.

Republic defeated Reardan 38-36 to win the boys title at the Spokane Arena.

The Bronco girls won the tournament for the first time since 1979 and finished the season 26-4. The Wildcats, who were fourth last year, dropped to 23-6.

Ritzville jumped out to a 16-9 lead after the first quarter but scored just four points in the second quarter.

The Broncos lengthened their lead in the third before Wilbur-Creston moved to within 30-26 with 1:02 remaining the game.

But Russel put the game out of reach when she hit a 3-pointer from the left side to close out scoring.

“It was awesome,” teammate Megan Yerxa said. “It was big. She’s clutch.”

Yerxa, who averaged 17 points per game in the season, was held to eight. She fouled out with 2:37 remaining.

Alyssa Erickson scored 12 points for Wilbur-Creston, which lost twice to Ritzville this season in the District 7 playoffs. Lisa Arden and Janelle Allen each added five points, with Arden pulling down 10 rebounds.

“Obviously we’re very happy,” said Ritzville coach John Foulkes, who has only three seniors on this team.