Colton, SJE will play for crown

YAKIMA – One year is a long time to focus on something.

But for the Colton Wildcats it was just the right amount of time.

After a year of living with a championship-game loss to a league rival, Colton is back where it wanted to be after a methodical 53-39 win over a determined Sunnyside Christian squad in Friday’s early semifinal of the State 1B girls state basketball tournament at the SunDome.

“As soon as summer ball started I could see these kids were focused,” Colton coach Clark Vining said. “Last year stung.”

Last year was a 44-36 loss to Garfield-Palouse in the championship game. In today’s cyber-driven world, Colton’s players were reminded daily that they left the SunDome without the trophy they sought.

“When you lose that game to a team from your league, you hear about it for oh, the next 40, oh, 50 years,” Vining said with a laugh.

The Wildcats (23-0) will have a chance at redemption tonight against another league rival, St. John-Endicott. The Wildcats have three wins – including in the District 9 title game – already this season over the Eagles.

After watching tape of the Knights, Vining left nothing to chance, adjusting the Wildcats’ defensive pressure to allow SC to run its transition game in the outside lanes, knowing that if the Wildcats could stop the ball, the sidelines would serve as an extra defender.

It worked, especially in the second half. The Wildcats forced nine turnovers in the final 16 minutes and hit three 3-pointers.

“We felt like if we could stop the ball and get some traps going we could pressure them into turnovers.”

Kelsey Moser scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead Colton. Mollie Kramer had 15 points – including two 3-pointers – and pulled down eight rebounds.

Courtney Druffel added 10 points and seven rebounds.

St. John-Endicott 47, St. Michael’s 30: The Eagles wore down the plucky Warriors and advanced to the championship game against league rival Colton.

St. Michael’s will play Sunnyside Christian in the game for third and sixth at 3:30 p.m.

Kelly Van Lith scored 12 points and Kelsey Simon added 11 for the Eagles (19-4).

St. Michael’s – the surprise team of the girls bracket – held tough for the first half, trailing just 20-15, but St. John-Endicott quickly opened a 15-point lead and the Warriors ran out of gas.

Now the Eagles can focus on one more shot at Colton.

“I hope it’s as good a game as our district game,” Eagles coach Bob Clement said. “If it is, the people here will get a real good show.”

Katie Drass led St. Michael’s (12-14) with 12 points.

Columbia 40, Sprague-Harrington 29: The Lions (21-5) led from wire to wire – by as many as 20 points in the third period – and advanced to the game for fourth and seventh.

Julie Ann Larrew led Columbia with 10 points. Katlyn Lowman had 10 for Sprague-Harrington (10-13).

Almira/Coulee-Hartline 62, Taholah 44: The Warriors continued to buzz saw through the consolation bracket, running up another big win. ACH (24-2) came into the tournament a co-favorite. The Warriors will face Neah Bay in the game for fifth and eighth.

ACH sprinted out to a 34-21 lead at halftime behind a combined 25 points from Sarah Gloyn and Madeline Isaak.

Gloyn led three Warriors in double figures with 21 points. Isaak had 17. Megan Osborne had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Neah Bay 42, Moses Lake Christian 34: The Lions (10-10) never led and were eliminated in the consolation semifinals by the Red Devils.

Esther Timofeyev led MLC with 25 points and 16 rebounds.