Titans reach state final

TACOMA – It is appropriate the first time the University High Titans play for the State 4A girls basketball title, they would play another Greater Spokane League team: the Lewis and Clark Tigers.

The Titans rode the play of Angie Bjorklund and a strong second-half defensive effort to a 56-47 win over the Prairie Falcons on Friday night in the Tacoma Dome.

With the win, the Titans move into tonight’s final (7, FSN) against the Tigers, who defeated Kentwood 60-57 in the other semifinal. The teams split their four meetings this year, though U-Hi won the last two.

The Titans also raised their record to 26-2, and avenged a 59-56 loss to Prairie in last year’s semifinals.

“It means so much to be in the finals, especially for our team, because we lost the exact same game, exact same team,” Bjorklund said. “It means a lot to finally come out and win.”

Bjorklund scored 34 points, grabbed eight rebounds, handed off six assists and had only two turnovers while playing all 32 minutes. She took 24 shots, made 12, including 6 of 10 from beyond the 3-point arc.

All while being the focus of the Prairie (23-4) defense, especially 6-foot senior Chelsea Porter, who was given the assignment of trying to contain Bjorklund.

“She was definitely up on me,” Bjorklund said. “But my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in the right spots. When she was up on me, hitting me for the back door, just the little things like that.”

Bjorklund’s 32 minutes were almost as many as she played in the first two games combined because of persistent foul trouble (she scored a combined 29 points in those games), but this night she was free to show the skills that have earned her a scholarship to the University of Tennessee.

“I don’t know if I planned it that way,” she said of the foul trouble, before laughing. “But it worked out well.”

It worked out well right from the start.

Though the first two quarters were a case of “can you top this?”

On one end Bjorklund would break free off the dribble and score, taking 14 first-half shots, hitting eight and scoring 22 points, 12 of them coming from beyond the arc.

On the other end, Prairie’s Ashley Corral kept stepping farther back to get away from the Titans defense, which included a zone for a while. Corral took eight shots, hit six and had 17 points. Five of her makes came from 3-point range.

When the half was over – ending appropriately enough on a Bjorklund 21-foot jumper – the Titans led 32-28.

The second half? It started with a Bjorklund 3-pointer, a Leah Archibald 20-footer and no Falcon points. The Titans had a 10-point lead.

It was that separation that made the difference.

Corral cooled down – she made just one shot after halftime – and Bjorklund stayed warm.

“She’s great at driving, she’s great at shooting,” Bjorklund said of Corral, who she guarded more in the second half. “Putting someone a little bigger, with longer arms so you can play back farther but still get a hand up, that’s why they put me on her.”

But the best defense may have come from coach Mark Stinson on the bench.

“We were praying … and we got a little closer too her,” he said. “The combination of those two things helped out. She was just amazing.”

The Titans’ defense not only shut down Corral, it didn’t give Prairie a prayer. The Falcons hit just 27 percent of their 26 shots after intermission, as Dara Zack – nine points, six rebounds – and Archibald battled inside with the Falcons’ bigs and the group effort corralled Corral.

But this was Bjorklund’s night and she came through.

“I looked up at the scoreboard at halftime as we went back to the locker room, and she had 22 points,” Stinson said. “I told coach (Mark) Kuipers that was my whole high school career, 22 points.

“What a performance.”