Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
She tried to do it by herself it appeared, and almost did.
Touchet’s Cierra Jo McKeown led her team against Colton in the Southeast 1B district championship game Friday in Colton and for tense moments, the Wildcats’ state record 66-game winning streak was in jeopardy.
After Colton lead 30-21 at halftime, McKeown – who had put up several airballs from three-point distance – kept pushing. Colton’s Savannah Chadwick guarded her much of the time.
“I thought (Chadwick) did a really good job,” said Colton coach Clark Vining.
McKeown, a junior, shot 12 of 33 attempts on the night in Clarkston.
“That’s the way she plays. That’s kind of their offense,” Vining said. “She’s not shy.”
With 4:45 left in the fourth quarter, Colton led 43-41. Touchet tied the game at 45-45 with 3:46 left and then Chadwick hit a three-pointer for 48-45.
McKeown answered with another three-pointer, 48-48.
Colton’s Zoe Moser countered with another three, then McKeown again for 54-51 Touchet.
After the three-point standoff, on Colton’s next posession Moser drove to the basket and scored, with a foul on the play.
She made the free throw for 54-54 with 1:53.
Touchet failed to answer, then Moser hit a three-pointer from the top of the key for 57-54.
She later drove again, was fouled and made another free throw.
Then McKeown took it down the floor with the clock dropping under a minute left. She dribbled in here, a little there on the perimeter, and the Colton defense stayed way up high. Desperate, not looking to pass, McKeown put up a side-armed heave.
It missed and Colton held on, with time, closing out their eighth consecutive district championship.
“It was a great game,” Vining said. “I thought we did a really good job of keeping our composure. We practice these situations and we stayed calm.”
Moser led the Wildcats with 26 points while Chadwick scored 17 and Rachel Meyer 11.
McKeown finished with 33 points.
Vining, also Colton High School’s football coach, has done a lot of game plans to acccount for someone named McKeown. Cierra Jo’s brother is Colter McKeown, who many local fans can’t forget as No. 14 on the Indians’ football team.
Vining will now lead the girls basketball team to a state sub-tournament game Friday at 6 p.m. vs. Almira-Coulee-Hartline at Cheney High School.
“Every team is different. This year we’re not quite as big; we play a little bit faster,” the coach said. “This team has the same goal as the teams in the past have.”
During the district championship game, as all games, the Colton girls appeared different from other teams in how they always run to the huddle, or in or out of the game when being substituted.
“It’s just something I’ve done,” said Vining. “We don’t walk anywhere.”
Colton continues on now in what has been a one game per week schedule, since their first-round bye in the league playoffs two weeks ago. After that they prepared for Touchet for championship week, and now get ready for the state sub-tournament game. The winner this week advances to Spokane Arena for the final eight-brackets.
After meeting Almira-Coulee-Hartline in the state tournament a couple times at the start of their record six-consecutive state titles, Colton has not run into them since the 2012 tournament.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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