Colfax girls return to Arena to defend state 2B title

Colfax senior Brittney Burke goes to the hoop in front of Reardan's Aly Peone in the NE championship game.

A year ago Colfax girls faced off in the Spokane Arena’s title spotlight against the Napavine Tigers before the 2B championship game, a first for the Bulldogs. Colfax then pegged a 20-point win to finish a solid four-game run for their first possession of the new 2B globe.

The Bulldogs returned to the Arena Wednesday with many of the same players, the top ticket out of the NE District and an invisible center target mark on their warmups for the other 15 qualifiers.

The Bulldogs entered state with a 22-3 mark and a 15-game winning streak.

Colfax was slated to start the state show Wednesday afternoon against DeSales, the number-three ticket holder out of the SE District.

DeSales qualified for the Spokane trip by defeating Pomeroy 55-40 for the last SE ticket out of the SE’s district’s tourney at Whitman College in Walla Walla. Caitlin Duncan, the 5-10 senior anchor of the Irish put down 23 points against the Pirates.

The Colfax/DeSales matchup Wednesday was in a bracket opposite Orcas Island /Wahkiakum with the winners advancing to a quarter-final round at 7:30 tonight and the losers paired in a 12:30 elimination showdown. Wahkiakum returned to Spokane after notching a win over Napavine, the Colfax foe on last year’s title game.

Colfax qualified for their second state 2B show last Thursday with a 58-43 NE championship win over Reardan, the team they have defeated in each of three deciding matchups along the road to the state.

Reardan bounced right back with a 55-39 win over Lind/Ritville Saturday at Mt. Spokane to get the NE number two ticket. The Indians were booked against Entiat in the second game of the girls’ tourney Wednesday.

Last Thursday in the title game at Mt. Spokane, the Bulldogs stacked a 10 point lead over Reardan in the first quarter and had a 12 point lead at the half.

Senior Kayla Johnson, who captured MVP honors at state last year as a junior, led Colfax with 14 in the NE title game. Emily Shaw, another senior veteran, hit 11. Kayleigh Maltone, another senior, pulled town 12 rebounds against the Indians in the NE title game.

Kelsey Moos, again led Reardan. She finished with 17, but she was held to just three beans in the second half when Colfax defenders shut off her drives to the bucket. Moos used the same route to notch big points against the Bulldogs two weeks ago in the Bi-County title game at Reardan.

Colfax 58-Reardan 43: 20.10 13/11 9/10 16/12: Brooke Webber 2 (3pt) 2-2 7, Hannah Harazin 0 2-2 2, Rachel Johnson 3 2-3 8, Kayla Johnson 5 (3pt) 3-5 14, Shaina Simonson 1 2-2 4, Raven Elkins 1 0-0 2, Brittney Burke 1 1-2 3, Emily Shaw 4 (3pt) 2-3 11, Kayleigh Maltone 4 1- 5 9. Total 18 19-27 f-17 58. Reardan: Liz Flowers 3 0-0 6, Aly Peone 3 (3pt) 0-0 7, Kelsey Moos 8 1-4 17, Lauren Schulz 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Bailey Wiedmer 2 1-3 5, Chantel Heath 2 1-6 5. Total: 19 2-14 f-22 43.