Pullman advances with strong defense; Lakeside stumbles

YAKIMA – There it was, neatly contrasted in two girls games: the necessity of defending at the state tournament.

Pullman’s girls played 32 suffocating minutes, nearly holding their first-round opponent at the State 2A tournament in the SunDome to a tourney-record low.

That defensive effort helped offset a subpar offensive performance, as the Greyhounds slugged their way to a 39-21 win over Vashon.

For Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), head coach Lora Cummings estimated they took about 4 minutes off at the defensive end, and fifth-ranked Woodland made them pay.

A 13-0 Beavers fourth-quarter run was the difference, as the Eagles fell to Woodland 50-45.

Woodland 50, Lakeside 45: They hadn’t shot the ball or handled it particularly well, but a 13-3 run bridging the third and fourth quarters gave the Eagles (17-7) a 41-32 lead.

That’s when they lost their poise on the offensive end, going 4 minutes without scoring, turning the ball over six times against Woodland’s pressure, missing a pair of free throws and three field goals.

They could have survived it with decent defense, but that abandoned them as well.

Woodland (23-1) scored on five of six possessions, then a lazy inbounds pass at halfcourt was intercepted by the Beavers’ Megan Peabody and laid in for a 45-41 lead.

The Eagles trailed 48-45 when they missed their final four shots.

“When we got up, they started to relax,” Cummings said. “They were all extremely nervous, and their eyes had kind of that glossed-over look. We relaxed on defense, then they’d score and put the pressure on and we’d go back on our heels.”

Kelsey Stillar had 16 points and Kia Gibson scored 15 for Lakeside.

The Eagles shot 27.1 percent from the field and hit only 11 of 22 free throws.

Lakeside moves into the consolation bracket, where the Eagles will face Archbishop Murphy at 12:30 p.m. today.

Pullman 39, Vashon 21: The Greyhounds (19-4) could afford to be flat on offense, as they used an active 2-3 zone to hold Vashon (17-10) to 27.6 percent shooting, while forcing 29 turnovers.

Vashon only scored six first-half points, shooting 2 of 10 and turning it over 16 times.

“We’ll take it,” Pullman head coach Mike Davis said. “It was a tractor pull. We’ve got a lot of young players, and we showed that, but we fought through it.”

Against Vashon’s defense, which collapsed on Jamie Thornton, the Greyhounds’ 6-foot-3 Montana State-bound center, Pullman only shot 31.4 percent.

The Greyhounds hit six 3-pointers, though, and converted a few fast-break opportunities off turnovers to stretch the lead out.

“We’re not really happy with it,” Davis said. “We were standing a lot. When we could get them to move and get our post rotations going, things started opening up and we got some good looks.”

Vashon got it within five early in the third quarter, but an 11-0 Pullman run – including five points from junior guard Alyssa Garro – put it away.

Pullman didn’t have a double-figure scorer, but Kelli Davis, the coach’s daughter, who will play at Sacramento State next year, had five steals and Garro added four.

The Greyhounds advance into a 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal against Naches Valley (21-4), ranked 10th in the state before finishing third in the Central Washington Bi-District.