Colfax advances to round of 16

Colfax sophomore Greta Geier puts up a baseline shot against Alison Day of St. George’s in the Saturday NE-SE finale at Mead Saturday. Piper Cai is in the background for Colfax.

After dropping a one-point loss to St. George's Saturday in the NE-SE finale at Mead, the Bulldog girls will travel north again Saturday to play Waterville/Mansfield in the state playoff round of 16. The game has been booked at West Valley at noon, and the winner will get a slot in the final eight state show for three days next week in the Spokane area.

The loser will pack it in for the season.

Saturday's Colfax-St. George's title game featured a frantic finish with a quiet decision after the buzzer. St. George's junior ace Hailey Higashi was fouled while making a last charge at the bucket in the final seconds in an attempt to break a 41-41 tie. The ref’s whistle blew, and the buzzer ended the game. Higashi went to the toss line alone and dropped the foul shot for point 42 and the Dragon win.

The final point came with a touch of irony because the Bulldog defense had held Higashi, who scored 28 points against Colfax last week when the Bulldogs took the NE district title at West Valley, to just four points. She finished with a lean two-for-six shooting from the floor and no three-point shots. That came after she hit five threebies in the prior matchup.

Saturday's title game at Mead featured a close start with the Bulldogs posting a 17-14 lead after a defensive duel in the first half.

After the break, St. George's Abby Jones pegged a run of eight straight points on the way to a game-high 17. Jones started the charge with a rare four-point play, a three-point shot from the corner followed by a toss shot off a foul.

A 5'8'' freshman, Jones ran seven points at the top of the half. With 3:15 left in the third quarter, the Dragons had Colfax in a 12-point hole, 30-18.

"It might seem like 12 points wasn't that bad, but keep in mind we had only scored 18 points by then," Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher commented.

Baerlocher credited his Bulldogs with climbing back into the game. They erased six points off the gap by the end of the third quarter, regained the lead at 33-32 on a shot by Taylor Garcia and took the lead again on a dumper by Carmen Gfeller, who took the assist from Piper Cai when she grabbed the rebound after she missed a second toss shot.

Foul shots and steals by the Dragons took a toll on Colfax. They hit just five of 16 toss shots for the night.

Baerlocker noted the solemn last-point finish for the game would not have happened if the Bulldogs had posted a better night at the toss line, particularly in the defensive game with the foul whistles blowing.

Colfax had a 41-39 lead with 28 second left, but they were called for a reach-over foul after another missed foul shot, and Dragon senior Allison Hayes laced both shots for the 41-41 tie.

The Bulldog's last-chance possession stopped when Higashi stole the ball at mid-court and was fouled in front of her own bench for the finish point.

Saturday at West Valley, the Bulldogs figure to go up a lean Shocker team which can move the ball.

Baerlocher said the keys for Colfax will be to keep better care of the ball and net more points off the possessions. Also on the to- do list will be to hit more of the toss shots.

Waterville/Mansfield will make the trip to West Valley to face the Bulldogs after placing third in the last round of the Districts 5-6 playoff at Wenatchee with a 53-26 win over Tonasket. Season record for the Shockers is 18-4.

The Wenatchee action also saw Okanogan, one of the power picks for the state 2B playoffs, defeat Mabton 64-51. Okanogan, the defending champions, enters the regional round with a 22-0 record.

In addition to collecting the NE-SE trophy at Mead, St. George's collected the top regional entry and will face Lind/ Ritzville/Sprague, the number-five finisher in at Mead. The Dragons and LRS will play at noon at Mt. Spokane High School.

Other NE-SE placers out of the last round at Mead saw Dayton, the SE champs, stop Davenport 43-34 in the third-fourth game, and Lind/Ritzville/Sprague topping DeSales 50-41 to get the last ticket to the regionals. The DeSales loss ended the season for the young Irish team which paced Colfax in the first half of the playoff round last week at Dayton.

Dayton's draw for the regional test put them against Mabton at Eisenhower High Saturday, and Davenport will play Napavine and Mt. Tahoma.

Napavine placed second to Toutle Lake after a two-point loss in the championship game for district four.

St. George's 42-Colfax 41: 8/8 6/9 16/7 12/17: Piper Cai 1 0-2 2, Ashtyn Aune 1 (3pt) 1-2 4, Katelyn Scholz 1 1-4 3, Olivia Mellor 1 0-2 2, Carmen Gfeller 5 (3pt) 2-4 13, Greta Geier 1 1-2 3, Kylie Gronning 1 0-0 2, Taylor Garcia 4 0-0 8, Faith Markley 2 0-0 4. Total 17 5-18 f-17 41. St. George's: Erin Armitage 4 0-0 8, Natalie Farias 3 0-0 6, Alison Hayres 2 2-2 6, Hailey Higashi 2 1-0 5, Abbie Jones 6 (5 3pt) 2-3 17. Total 17 5-6 f-18 42.