Colfax Dominates; Jitters Cost Freeman

State 1A girls

Sizeable Colfax dominated inside and had its way just about everywhere else during a 61-17 romp past overmatched Overlake in its girls State 1A high school basketball tournament opener.

The easy win was a successful first step toward a repeat appearance in the tournament finals. Now the Bulldogs (19-5) must face a more formidable foe in Toutle Lake (21-3) in tonight’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal game.

Freeman’s girls, making their first state appearance in 18 years, appeared jittery during their 60-43 loss to Seattle Christian earlier in the day.

The Scotties (10-15) play Coupeville (14-10) in a 10:30 a.m. survivor’s game.

Colfax 61, Overlake 17

As one-sided as this game was, it would have been even more so had leading scorer Lizzy Mellor not been in early foul trouble and had Colfax made a few more early free throws and layins.

Playing a lineup that included four players 5-foot-10 or taller against a team with little size and no depth, the Bulldogs were never in jeopardy.

They scored the first 11 points of the game and the last seven of the half for a 26-9 lead.

Overlake scored four points late in the third quarter and four more in the fourth while Colfax continued to dominate.

Included was a 58-36 rebound advantage and 23-6 field-goal superiority. About the only glitch was a 16-of-37 freethrow shooting performance.

“It’s nice to get the jitters out and a game like this allows us to do some of that,” said coach Dave Ebersole. “We tried to play a lot of kids and do the things we needed to get ready for the next game.”

Initially, Colfax went to Mellor, who had 11 points and nine rebounds in the game despite playing sparingly. Becky VanTine took over and wound up the scoring leader with 16 points and 11 rebounds.

In all, 11 of Colfax’s 12 girls scored.

Ebersole said a team doesn’t always get the opportunity to play an easy team in its state-opening game.

“We’ll have a harder game when we play Toutle,” he said. “Our goal here was to try and get two victories. We’re halfway there.”

Overlake 3 6 4 4 - 17

Colfax 11 15 12 23 - 61

Overlake (14-11) - Weaver 4, Meredith 5, McEvoy 2, Pentz 2, Durkin 4.

Colfax (19-5) - Mellor 11, Tribbell 6, Hall 6, VanTine 16, VanTine 2, Lee 2, Pierce 3, Baldree 8, VanTine 2, McPherson 3, Johnson 2.

Seattle Christian 60, Freeman 43

Tourney nerves were evident in the first half when Freeman turned the ball over 16 times and fell behind 20-7 in the first half.

The Scotties made a second-half run after trailing by 17 points, closing to within 51-43 with 2:49 left to play,

But Seattle Christian scored the game’s final nine points.

“I think it was a case of them having been here before and we have not,” said Freeman coach Scott Moore. “We were pretty nervous.”

But, he said, it was a learning experience for a young team that he’s confident will play better today.

“I think they know they didn’t play well,” said Moore. “It was more us than them with our unforced errors.”

No Freeman girl finished in double figures. The points were spread among six players. Juniors Kristi Larson and Laura Halverson had nine each, and Halverson had eight rebounds.

Senior Heather Wilkerson scored eight points and had 10 rebounds.

Freeman 5 15 15 8 - 43

Seattle Christian 11 19 20 10 - 60

Freeman (10-15)-Kristi Larson 9, Heather Wilkerson 8, Krista Freeman 4, Leslie White 7, Laura Halverson 9, Lindsey Floch 6.

Seattle Christian (22-4)-Kristen Ridgway 10, Kelee Wall 4, Melissa Bennett 9, Melissa Kiyohara 15, Shawna Moor 11, Lisa Yost 5, Sarah Hubeek 4, Gayle Imran 2.