St. John-Endicott girls keep dreaming

YAKIMA – For at least one more day, the dream lives on for the St. John-Endicott Eagles.

After struggling through a bruising Whitman County League schedule and an equally trying regional tournament, the unheralded Eagles advanced to the quarterfinals of the State 1B girls basketball tournament – joining WCL rivals Garfield-Palouse and Colton – with a 51-37 win over Curlew.

SJ-E (13-12) will face second-ranked Gar-Pal for the fourth time (Gar-Pal is 2-1 in those games) this season in today’s 9 p.m. quarterfinal. The win over Curlew was the ninth in 10 first-round games for the program since it became known as St. John-Endicott.

After drafting in the considerable wake of Gar-Pal and Colton coming to Yakima, the Eagles are now in with the elite. What coach Don Kemper termed “a bigger bull’s-eye” resulting from a strong district tournament effort grew exponentially Wednesday.

Their early play was full of the jitters you’d expect from a team with just one senior starter. A 13-4 first quarter effort was negated by Curlew’s late second-period flurry. Sophomore Katie Jo Torzewski hit two 3-pointers from near the top of the key, cutting a 19-11 lead to 19-17 at intermission.

Some of that resulted in Kemper’s decision – he second-guessed himself publicly afterward – to switch from a man-to-man defense into a zone to settle his crew down.

“We found out tonight we are a better man team,” he said with a laugh.

Torzewski, who averaged less than five points a game on the season, finished with 10 points. Mackenzie Wilson also had a huge effort for the Cougars, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds.

Curlew simply couldn’t stop Kelly Van Lith inside. The sophomore post dropped in 19 points – almost double her season average – on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. She was helped by Kelsey Simon’s 12-point, five-rebound effort.

The Eagles’ pressure defense paid off. They outscored the Cougars 32-20 in the second half.

Curlew drops to 15-11. The Cougars lost in the first round for the first time in the last four state appearances. Their quest for a fourth straight state trophy will require a consolation win today against Lummi.

Garfield-Palouse 42, Lummi 31: The Vikings made the most of what coach Steve Swinney called “an uninspired effort” to get past the pesky Blackhawks.

Gar-Pal (21-4) advances to the quarterfinals for the first time in its last four trips to state. It will face WCL rival St. John-Endicott in the late quarterfinal.

Swinney singled out point guard Elisha Lopez – who also won the contest’s Sportsmanship Award – for her play. Lopez had 18 points – almost double her season average – and 10 rebounds to key the Gar-Pal attack. Bridget Bower was the only other player in double figures with 11 points.

“She (Lopez) played an excellent game for us tonight,” Swinney said. “She did some scoring and took care of the ball.”

Gar-Pal couldn’t shake the Blackhawks for good until the final period despite Lopez’s work. At one point in the second half the Vikings led 30-14 only to have Lummi surge and cut it to 32-26 at the end of the third period.

Lummi stayed in the chase in the first half despite 11 turnovers and getting outrebounded 20-15.

Swinney didn’t have an explanation for his team’s uncharacteristically flat effort.

“A long day I guess,” he said. “We’ll have plenty to do tomorrow to keep us busy”

Almira/Coulee-Hartline 55, Taholah 40: Nikki Osborne and Sarah Gloyn combined for 29 points as ACH rallied from a 24-21 halftime deficit to advance into the quarterfinals.

The Warriors (12-11) will face Colton, an easy winner over Trout Lake-Glenwood, in today’s early quarterfinal at 4 p.m. The win advances ACH to the quarters for the fifth straight state tournament appearance and keeps alive the potential for a seventh straight state trophy.

Osborne had 11 of her 16 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer with 2 seconds remaining in the third period to give ACH the lead for good. She also pulled down eight rebounds and had five assists. Gloyn added 13 points.

Colton 64, Trout Lake-Glenwood 30: The third-ranked Wildcats (21-3) raced to a 16-3 first-quarter lead and never looked back in advancing to the quarterfinals to face ACH.

Colton keeps alive its hope of improving on its third-place finish in 2007.

Alisa Moehrle Druffel led Colton with 16 points.

The Wildcats’ defense forced 26 Mustangs turnovers and outrebounded Trout Lake-Glenwood 33-28.