State 2A: East Valley rolls past Anacortes, faces top-seed Lynden in quarterfinals

YAKIMA – Limiting Anacortes to eight first-half points, the East Valley Knights powered into the State 2A girls quarterfinals on Wednesday, toppling the Seahawks 61-23.

East Valley will play top seed Lynden on Thursday in the 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal. The Knights have a chance to bring home a trophy for the fifth time in six straight trips to state.

After an unexpected regional loss to Washougal on Saturday, the Knights (20-6) were properly focused and dominated from the start. The Seahawks scored one point in the first quarter, a free throw by Megan Bellusci. The Knights dashed to a 12-1 lead after one quarter and it was 29-8 at the half.

“We didn’t play our best last Saturday,” Knights coach Rob Collins said. “We got beat by a good team and that prepared us for today.”

Prepared enough to hold the Seahawks to 12 percent shooting from the floor. Anacortes’ first field goal didn’t come until 6:32 of the second quarter.

“We like to let our defense generate our offense, but we haven’t been as solid on defense and we’d like to,” Collins said. “Today, the girls picked it up and played their hearts out.”

Faith Adams led the Knights with 15 points and Ellie Stowell added 12. Genesis Wilkinson and Stowell had seven rebounds each.

Collins said he didn’t have a feel about his team’s mindset coming into the game, but he was happy with what he saw.

“I quit guessing a long time ago whether they’re ready or not,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t think they’re ready and they come out and play like this.”

Clarkston boys 49, Liberty (Issaquah) 41: Brandton Chatfield scored 16 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as the Bantams (16-8) downed the Eagles in a loser-out contest.

Clarkston plays rival Pullman on Thursday in a 9 a.m. quarterfinal.