St. George’s girls and boys advance in 2B
St. George’s posted its lowest point total of the season, but although the shots didn’t fall, key performances from role players and defense pushed the Dragons past Lind-Ritzville/Sprague 32-29 in a 2B state regional girls game on Saturday at Mt. Spokane High School.
The Dragons (21-6) took their first lead since the first quarter with 4:05 left in the fourth quarter and extended its to 31-25 with 1:45 remaining. The Broncos (19-9) had a chance to send the game to overtime after Curtis scored four points and the Dragons missed two straight 1-and-1, but Peyton Curtis’ attempt to create separation for a 3-pointer resulted in a turnover with three seconds left and the Dragons dribbled the ball out as time expired.
The 5-foot-8 Hailey Higashi, who entered the game as the Dragons’ leading scorer at 19.1 points per game, struggled to get open shots over 6-foot Madi Harder. But with the offense sputtering, Natalie Farias came through with seven of St. George’s last 10 points, including a 3 with 5:03 remaining to tie the game at 25, a steal and transition layup to give the Dragons a two-point lead, and a scoop shot to push the lead to six.
“I looked at my team and realized someone needed to pick up the energy,” Farias said. “When I hit that first 3, everything started becoming in sync.”
St. George’s head coach Mark Rickard said he wasn’t surpired it was Farias, who underwent four ACL surgery’s before her senior year, to take the reigns down the stretch.
“She’s got a really high basketball IQ; really smart, great vision,” Rickard said. “She’s a girl that plays with no fear, and that’s what we saw from her today.”
Farias led the Dragons with 13 points, while Higashi added 11. Curtis finished with 13 and Tessa Jantz chipped in 12 for the Broncos.
St. George’s will head to the Spokane Arena for a 2B state quarterfinal matchup on March 5. The Dragon’s draw will be announced Sunday at 11 a.m.
Napavine 51, Davenport 36: The Tigers claimed a spot in the state tournament with a win over the Gorillas (20-8) at Mt. Tahoma High School in Tacoma. Davenport ended the season with a 21-7 record.
Colfax 44, Waterville 27: The Bulldogs (19-7) recovered from a slow start and beat the Shockers in a state play-in game at West Valley. Colfax trailed 12-6 after the first quarter, but outscored Waterville 15-6 in the second and 15-1 in the third.
Boys
St. George’s 54, Mabton 47: Slowing down a prolific scorer like Mabton’s Roy Zavala, who averages 26.4 points, is a tough task for any player but Dragons freshman point guard Erik Farias didn’t step down from the challenge.
Zavala was held to 15 points on 2-of-14 shooting and the Dragons (17-9) held on for the 2B state regional win at Mt. Spokane.
“Coming in … I was kind of nervous,” Farias said. “He can really fill it up, and seeing that he scored like 51 in a game before, we knew we had to lock down and play tough defensively. Thought we did the job pretty well.”
St. George’s opened on a 24-8 run to start the game, but Mabton responded with a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 29-20 going into halftime.
The Vikings stayed within striking distance, and made their move as Zavala’s eight straight points fueled an 8-3 Vikings run to cut St. George’s lead to 51-47. But Mabton couldn’t get anything else to fall, and Farias put the game out of reach with two foul shots with 21.6 seconds remaining.
Collin Cremers scored 13 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for St. George’s. Issac Werkman added 12 points and Farias was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
St. George’s draw for the 2B state tournament, starting on March 5 at the Spokane Arena, will be announced on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Lind-Ritzville/Sprague 52, Warden 48: Jacob Saetre hit a crucial 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter and the Broncos (18-10) advanced the state tournament with a win over the Cougars at Mt. Spokane. Saetre finished with 22 points and hit three 3-pointers in LRS’ 21-14 second-quarter run.
Wyatt Roettger added 12 points and Dallas Killian chipped in 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Broncos, who will find out their state matchup on Sunday.
Northwest Christian 85, Asotin 57: David Olds scored 22 points and Ryan Ricks and Asher Cox added 18 apiece as the Crusaders (24-2) pulled away in the second quarter and beat the Panthers at West Valley.
Northwest Christian broke a 17-all tie with a 25-5 second-quarter charge. The Crusaders advanced to the state tournament.