State 3A Girls: Central Valley knocks off 4-time defending champion Garfield in physical semifinal win

TACOMA – When the Garfield girls basketball team beat Mead in the State 3A championship game last season, it came into the game with undisputed 3A player of the year Katie Fiso, looking to defend three consecutive titles.

The Bulldogs were looking to make it five in a row this season, having won 19 consecutive state tournament games. But they are a drastically different team – with Fiso off at University of Oregon and entering the tournament as the No. 19 seed – needing to win three consecutive loser-out games to reach the semifinals.

On top of that, they lost their most experienced player, senior Sarah Lessig, to injury.

This year, the top dog is undefeated Central Valley, which averaged 68.5 points per game and had won every game this season by double digits before handling Kennewick for the third time by eight points in Thursday’s quarterfinal win.

It was a mismatch on paper. It was something entirely different on the court.

Drea Domebo came off the bench for 12 points, Brynn McGaughy added 11 points with 12 rebounds and the top-seeded Bears (25-0) escaped with a 51-49 win over the Bulldogs (17-10) in a State 3A semifinal at the Tacoma Dome on Friday.

Central Valley faces sixth-seeded Lakeside in the state title game on Saturday at 3 p.m. Garfield takes on North Thurston in the state third-place game at 11:15 a.m.

The Bears are the 32nd Greater Spokane League girls team in 48 years to play for a 4A or 3A state championship – and looking to add to the accumulated 18 GSL state titles. It’s also CV’s 10th trip to a championship game, including six titles.

“We knew what (Garfield) was going to give us,” Central Valley coach Jason Wilson said. “It’s obvious on film how athletic they are, how physical they are, all that sort of stuff. The 19 seed might have been something maybe because of how they started, but they’re definitely not a 19 seed now.”

“Obviously, they don’t have Katie Fiso and Sarah Lessig was out, and so that was definitely in our favor,” McGaughy, a McDonald’s All-American, said. “But they’re still a really good team, and they’ve been in this spot so many times. They have four straight titles, and to take that away from them is good because it shows everybody else what we can do.”

Due to the physical nature of the game, Greater Spokane League defensive MVP Eden Sander (nine points) uncharacteristically fouled out with three minutes left.

“I’m proud of my team for pushing through and getting this win, especially after Eden fouled out,” McGaughy said. “Obviously, I didn’t play my best game at all, especially on the free-throw line (3 of 8). I have to dial that up for my team, not even for myself, but for my team. But I’m just so happy about our effort defensively.”

Garfield’s pressure defense led to 18 CV turnovers.

“Garfield’s a very aggressive team, and we haven’t really seen that yet,” McGaughy said. “I thought we handled it well for being that being our first really physical game.”

“We don’t see that kind of pressure all year long. We’re usually the ones causing those turnovers,” Wilson said. “We knew it was gonna take all five people being involved in the press break.”

The Bears had to do a lot of little things that don’t show up in the scorebook to pull it out – like Domebo chasing down a fast break, or Gabbie Wilson (eight points) hitting the deck with less than a minute left to earn possession with a jump ball.

“That’s a nice part about having a good team,” Wilson said. “We’re not a one- or two-person team.”

CV led 13-12 after one quarter and Domebo’s 3-pointer late in the second quarter gave the Bears a 29-23 halftime lead.

Garfield used a 9-0 run at the start of the third quarter to take its first lead since early in the game, leading to a Bears timeout. Sander hit a 3-pointer, McGaughy tipped in a rebound and CV led by seven entering the fourth quarter.

But Garfield kept pressing and chipping away. Junior guard Lena Most hit a 3-pointer and Sander fouled out with just under three minutes to play with CV up 49-44. Most added another 3-pointer with 30 seconds to go to make it a two-point game, but the Bulldogs didn’t get another shot to the rim.

“They’re a four-time state champ, you know? Most of the coverage and the talk is about them, or the West Side teams,” Wilson said. “Obviously, I get that there’s more teams over here. But we feel like we can play, too.”