Reserve Picks Up Wildcats

District 7-B basketball

The longest 9 minutes and 18 seconds of Wilbur-Creston’s season ended Wednesday with no time to spare.

Reserve Sarah Harris helped offset the loss of scoring leader Alyssa Erickson as eighth-ranked W-C (17-6) edged Selkirk 53-51 in a girls District 7-B tournament semifinal at Spokane Falls Community College.

Harris scored two late baskets as W-C held tough when Erickson (17.6) fouled out with 1:18 left in the third quarter on a ticky-tack offensive foul.

Seventh-ranked Selkirk (22-3), trailing 39-31 at the time, never came closer than two although the Rangers hit what would have been the game-tying basket one tick after the final buzzer.

“You can analyze it all you want, but maybe this helped us,” said first-year Wildcats coach Bethany Hopkins.

“We saw different colors of our team tonight and I was very proud of them.”

The Wildcats qualified for Saturday night’s championship game against BiCounty League nemesis Ritzville. Both teams gained automatic state berths. W-C is 0-3 against Ritzville, losing all three by 10 points or less.

Selkirk, which had won nine straight, must defeat Sprague-Harrington at 6 p.m. Friday at SFCC to advance to state for the first time in 15 years.

Erickson picked up her fourth foul with 1:49 left in the third. Hopkins had just called for a substitute when Erickson was whistled for No. 5.

W-C’s defense held firm, as its triangle-and-two stopped Selkirk’s leading scorer, Molly Carlson, from making a second-half field goal after she burned W-C for 10 points in the second quarter.

“The strategy was to play good defense, don’t foul and take smart shots,” Harris said.

Wilbur-Creston 53, Selkirk 51

Selkirk 10 17 7 17 - 51

Wilbur-Creston 14 13 17 9 - 53

SELKIRK - Fairbairn 6, Scherf 11, Barnes 3, Pettis 2, Smith 2, Haney 0, Jones 5, Beatty 0, Allert 6, Carlson 16.

WILBUR-CRESTON - Desautel 0, Sherwood 0, Harris 12, Mann 0, Deahl 8, Dreger 7, Erickson 7, Arden 6, Aubertin 1, Kemp 0, Nelson 12, Snavely 0.

Ritzville 53, St. George’s 27

Woe unto the world if Megan Yerxa plays what she considers a “good” game.

Yerxa hit 10 of 17 from the floor to score 26, including the Broncos’ first 14 points, as top-ranked Ritzville (24-0) won its 34th consecutive game.

“I really didn’t think I played that well,” said Yerxa, a 6-foot-1 junior post. “I missed a lot of easy shots. But we played really well as a team, and that’s what I’m excited about.”

Ritzville used a 17-3 run in the first half to build a double-digit lead, then went outside in the second half after the fourth-ranked Dragons (19-4) had a mini flurry.

Broncos senior Shannon Russel hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the third quarter for a 29-16 lead. Russel finished 4 of 8 from long range and provided the defense on Dragons scoring leader Miranda RouthCorker.

Routh-Corker and teammate Wenchi Liu, who was shadowed by Amy Fitch, were a combined 3 of 22 from the floor.

“I feared the outside game more than the inside game,” said Dragons coach Ross Thomas. “We talked a lot about stopping their perimeter game. I thought Yerxa, if she went off, would be for 16 and not 26.”

Ritzville qualified for its eighth district title game and 10th state trip. The Broncos are 7-0 in district championship games, including last year’s 47-38 win over W-C.

St. George’s can qualify for its seventh state berth with a win Friday against Northport. The game is at 1:30 p.m. at SFCC.

St. George’s 6 8 5 8 - 27

Ritzville 8 11 20 14 - 53

ST. GEORGE’S - Liu 3, Clarke 3, Philopant 0, Stothart 0, Henley 4, Blume 0, Grant 0, Nielsen 8, DePonty 4, Routh-Corker 5, Kutteruf 0, Moore 0.

RITZVILLE - Wellsandt 0, Warriner 0, Sackmann 0, Weber 8, Horpedahl 0, Fitch 0, Gibler 0, Russel 14, Yerxa 26, Alspach 2, Janzen 2, Zicha 1.

Northport 42, Davenport 39

Candace Young had 15 rebounds and hit 7 of 8 from the floor as the Mustangs (19-7) eliminated the Gorillas (10-16) at Spokane Community College.

Karen Sauvola added 7-of-14 shooting for Northport, which is one win shy of a second straight state berth. Kylene Marriott hit four 3-pointers for Davenport.

Davenport 7 9 5 18 - 39

Northport 9 10 14 9 - 42

DAVENPORT - Swain 0, Marriott 18, Smith 3, Guhlke 0, Schreck 7, Lust 3, Kunz 2, Emery 4, Pauls 2.

NORTHPORT - Day 4, Lenhard 0, Sauvola 17, Jimenez 6, Young 14, Brunette 1.

Sprague-Harr. 62, Wellpinit 37

Mandi Walters scored 24, hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers, and added 13 steals as the Falcons (16-9) eliminated the Redskins (18-7) at SCC.

Noel Hatten and Amanda Scoles combined to hit 8 of 15 from the field for S-H, which is one game shy of its first state appearance. Miranda Payne had nine rebounds for Wellpinit.

Sprague-Harr. 15 19 13 15 - 62

Wellpinit 9 10 10 8 - 37

SPRAGUE-HARRINGTON - Maurer 2, Whipple 9, Ernst 0, Walters 24, Charlton 2, Hatten 10, Harding 0, Hatcher 0, Engles 4, Morse 1, Scoles 10.

WELLPINIT - Covington 0, Cli.Allen 0, Pakootas 6, Stearns 5, Cel.Allen 11, Ramos 0, Tonasket 2, Barnaby 0, Andrew 0, Wynecoop 0, M.Payne 13.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo