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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cusick earns first state trip

Chris Brown Correspondent

Cusick High School girls basketball coach J.R. Bluff came into the huddle with .3 seconds remaining in regulation.

Sprague-Harrington had just called timeout. Senior forward Christina Heinen was on the line for the second of two foul shots. The game was tied at 60, a berth in the State B Tournament up for grabs. The Cusick girls had never been to state.

Bluff’s words of wisdom?

“So this guy walks into a bar. He’s holding a duck…”

Heinen missed the second foul shot, but the Panthers (24-1) displayed their coach’s level of cool in overtime, beating the Falcons (20-5) 70-65 in a District 7, winner-to state game Thursday at Mt. Spokane High School, earning the first trip to state in the program’s history.

The Falcons gave Cusick a tougher game than perhaps the Panthers expected, particularly Stacie Shields, who finished the night with 35 points. And when your program is still looking for its inaugural state appearance, it’s only fitting you have to recover from an early 14-4 deficit, overcome atrocious foul shooting and withstand two missed free throws with virtually no time left that would have won you the game.

“Well, we didn’t do it the easy way,” Bluff said. “But it was a battle. Any time you get to this level, you have big-time ‘B’s (schools), you got big-time scorers. We battled … and we did alright.”

“Wow, I’m blown away,” said senior wing Kimberly Bluff, who led the Panthers with 23 points. “I’m still in shock. We made history, now the only thing to do is go to state and bring something home.”

Cusick recovered from their poor start by stepping up defensively, forcing the Falcons into 29 turnovers en route to the win.

And it’s a win they’ll be savoring in Cusick for quite a while.

Almira/Coulee-Hartline 44, Curlew 37

ACH coach Mike Correia has a rule. Any starter who picks up two early fouls, sits for the rest of the half.

It nearly killed Kami Clark.

The Warriors were up 14-6 when the sophomore guard picked up her second foul with 2:47 left in first quarter. She didn’t play again until the second half and the Cougars came back to tie the game at 22 at halftime.

But Clark came out fired up in the second half, at one point she had a personal 8-0 run, and ACH (23-2) earned a spot in state by beating Curlew (21-4) at Mt. Spokane.

Clark finished with 14 points and Michele Balcom added 11 for the Warriors, who will take on Cusick Saturday at 3:30 at Mt. Spokane for the district championship.

Lind-Ritzville 38, Republic 36

Laura Cain scored 15 points as the Broncos (14-12) held off the Tigers (14-11) in a loser-out game at Mead High School.

Lind-Ritzville will take on Curlew today at 5 p.m. at Mt. Spokane in a loser-out, winner-to-state contest.

Inchelium 51, Liberty 50

The Hornets (19-7) were able to hold off the Lancers (16-10) in a loser-out game at Mead High School.

Inchelium will take on Sprague-Harrington today at 5 p.m. at Mead in a loser-out, winner-to-state contest.