Freeman, Colfax Head For State 1A

Northeast A Tournament

Rebounding was the story Friday night at Mead High School.

The second-ranked Freeman boys basketball team and the Colfax girls both dominated the boards to win titles in the District 7 1A basketball tournament and qualify for state March 1-4 in the Tacoma Dome.

Freeman increased its winning streak to 21 games after squeaking out a 57-53 victory over Liberty. And Colfax held a 44-19 rebounding advantage to defeat Freeman 62-32 and extend its winning streak to 10.

The Freeman boys play next Saturday in the Region IV 1A tournament at Moses Lake for state seeding against District 5/6 champion Brewster, a 65-52 winner over Okanogan on Friday.

Colfax meets the winner of tonight’s District 5/6 girls championship game between Brewster and Okanogan.

The Freeman girls and Liberty boys both play in loser-out games Saturday at Moses Lake. Liberty will play either Lake Roosevelt or Okanogan.

Freeman 57, Liberty 53

Liberty fought back from a 32-21 halftime deficit and had a chance to win it on Ben Holling’s 3-point try with 10 seconds left.

The Lancers got the ball after Holling missed a free throw with 30 seconds to go and the ball went out of bounds off the hands of Freeman’s Jeff Hyndman on an attempt to control the rebound.

But Hyndman held onto the ball after Holling’s missed 3 at the end and Tanner Townsend made two free throws with 6 seconds left to seal the win. The junior guard finished with a game-high 25 points, including three 3-pointers and 12 of 13 free throws. Hyndman struggled offensively with only four points but pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Townsend said the Scotties didn’t communicate well on defense. They have now beaten the Lancers four times this season.

“We know we should have beaten them by a lot,” Townsend said. “It was probably a good wake-up call for us. Better now than at regionals.”

Freeman coach Mike Thacker was impressed with his team’s clutch free-throw shooting. That’s been a strong point all season, he said. He added that Liberty did everything it needed to do to win and played with a lot of heart, and Freeman lucked out.

But “It came down to who wanted it the most,” said Holling, a junior who connected on 8 of 12 field goals on the way to a team-high 19 points.

Holling’s senior brother, Jake, added 16 points, including his team’s first five points of the fourth quarter that brought Liberty within seven.

Liberty 12 9 20 12 - 53

Freeman 18 14 15 10 - 57

Liberty (16-8) - Jydstrup 3, B. Holling 19, J. Holling 16, H. Smith 5, Repp 5, Wiman 2, Greenwalt 3, Brumley 0.

Freeman (21-2) - Carrell 10, Townsend 25, B. DePell 7, J. DePell 0, Hendrickson 8, Johnson 3, Hyndman 4.

Colfax 62, Freeman 32

The Scotties hung tough for more than a quarter but the Bulldogs ended the first half with a 14-0 run for a 33-23 halftime lead. Then they scored the first eight points of the second half.

“We kept going to our strengths and they couldn’t find an answer,” said Colfax coach Dave Ebersole.

Colfax’s rebounding limited Freeman to one shot on most possessions and the Scotties managed just nine points in the second half. They were 12 of 46 from the field for the game.

And they couldn’t slow down Lizzy Mellor. The sophomore tied her career high with 25 points and pulled down 20 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end. Her 20 rebounds are close to a school record, Ebersole said.

“At the very end of the first half we pushed the pace and showed them that we’re here and not going away,” Mellor said. “We knew what we were doing and went to the open places. We saw the court well and everyone rebounded, not just one person. That’s important.”

Junior Becky VanTine scored 12 of her 14 points in the second half for Colfax. She added six rebounds and five assists.

Heather Wilkerson and Kristi Larson combined for 21 points and five 3-pointers for Freeman, which lost to Colfax for the third time this season.

Freeman 13 10 2 7 - 32

Colfax 14 19 19 10 - 62

Freeman (9-14) - Floch 2, Larson 10, Wilkerson 11, Morphy 0, Freeman 0, White 2, Dust 2, Halverson 3, Tibbetts 2, Miller 0, Moberg 0.

Colfax (17-5) - Lee 0, Mellor 25, Pierce 0, Tribbett 7, Baldree 2, Hall 9, Ken. VanTine 2, B. VanTine 14, McPherson 0, Swan 0, Kel. VanTine 3, Johnson 0.