Liberty beats Colfax, takes league lead

Christine Denny of Liberty drives against Parker Warwick of Colfax on the way to a 28-point game.

Carmen Gfeller of Colfax looks for a shot against freshman Maisie Burnham of Liberty.

Liberty's girls came out with a strong third quarter and held off Colfax in the final minute to take a 52-49 win and the league lead after the first round of NE action for the south side. The Lancers came away from Colfax with a 7-0 overall record and 5-0 league record after the hard-fought win at Colfax.

After the three-point loss to the Lancers, Colfax faced LaSalle in the first round of the West Valley Eagle Classic Tuesday and pegged a 55-45 win to advance its overall record to 5-3.

Colfax led 23-17 after the first half and added 10 points to its lead in the third quarter.

The Bulldogs were slated to return to West Valley Thursday and play Cashmere.

Against Liberty Wednesday, Dec. 21, Colfax girls posted a 21-19 edge after the first half, but Liberty pulled away in the third quarter. Christine Denny scored eight points in the first four minutes of the second half to swing the score. Denny finished with 28 total points. That included an 8-for-8 run at the toss line in the last quarter when Colfax was scrambling to make up the gap.

In the last frame, Colfax made up ground with Greta Geier hitting two threebies and Carmen Gfeller hitting one.

Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher said the switch to the three-point mode was not in the plan for the late charge, but it happened.

Baerlocher credited Liberty's defense for keeping the Bulldogs off balance.

"We just really couldn't get our offense going. In the first half, I think we scored just twice by running our offense," Baerlocher said.

Liberty also hit 22-35 from the toss line compared to 12-16 for the Bulldogs.

"When your opponent hits more toss shots than you shoot, you're in trouble," Baerlocher commented.

Colfax almost caught the Lancers in the final minute of the game, but they had to foul to get possession of the ball, and the Lancers collected enough points at the foul line to keep an edge.

Gfeller led Colfax with 16 points, and Taylor Garcia finished with 11.

Gfeller had 10 of the Colfax rebounds and booked six steals.

Geier had her best night yet with seven rebounds and three steals.

Tuesday against LaSalle at West Valley in the Eagle Classic, the Bulldogs had a 40-26 lead after three quarters, and LaSalle came back in the final frame but could not close the gap.

Colfax launched just five shots in the final quarter, but they had steady shooting at the line. Gfeller finished with 26 points against LaSalle with 11 buckets from the field. Garcia, who hit the lone three-point shot for Colfax, finished with 15 points.

The Cashmere game today is booked to begin at 3:30.

Colfax next week will start a six-game run against teams on the north side of the NE and then finish league action with a second five-game set against teams on the south side.

Liberty 52-Colfax 49: 12/9 7/13 14/7 19/20: Lexie Smith 1 0-0 2, Piper Cai 2 (3pt) 5, Abbie Miller 3 1-1 7, Gfeller 3 (3pt) 9-11 16, Geier 2 (both 3pt) 2-4 8, Garcia 5 (3pt) 0-1 11. Total: 16 12-16 f-27 49. Liberty: Kendyl Fletcher 1 1-2 3, Denny 9 (2 3pt) 8-9 28, Madelynne Flaig 1 1-2 3, Maisie Burnham 1 7-12 9. Aleena Cook 2 1-5 5, Abby Karlis 0 4-4 4. Total 14 22-45 f-19 52.

Colfax 55-LaSalle 45: 9/6 14/11 17/9 15/19: Smith 0 1-2 1, Cai 1 1-5 3, Miller 0 2-2 2, Gfeller 11 4-4 26, Geier 3 0-0 6, Garcia 5 (3pt) 4-5 15, Rachel Brown 1 0-0 2. Total: 21 12-18 f-16 55. LaSalle: Lauren Desmarius 1 0-0 3, Natalie Munguia 1 2-4 4, Grace McGree 6 1-2 13, Tatiana White 12 2-2 6, Amanda Kelley 1 0-0 2, Natalie Newman 2 1-2 5, Julia Boutiallier 3 2-2 8, Peyton McCrea 1 2-2 4. Total 17 10-16 f-16 45.