Davenport, St. George’s end Colfax state bid

Colfax senior guard Alexie Smith scores against St. George’s in an elimination round loss at Spokane.

The state 2B entry by the Colfax girls ended short of a trophy after the Bulldogs lost to NE foes Davenport Thursday in the quarter-final round and to St. George's Friday in the consolation round.

The Bulldogs were knocked out of the Saturday finals which saw Davenport, the number-two qualifier from the NE, roll past Kalama 56-37 to take the state championship.

St. George's finished in sixth after bowing by two points, 44-46, to Dayton, the team Colfax derailed last Saturday in the regional round at Richland High School.

Davenport, St. George's and Dayton all finished with 2B hardware after four-game runs at the revised state show. They all had to survive the new Wednesday elimination round which was added under the new WIAA format. The Spokane final started with 12 teams and stretched the action over four days.

Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher said he was proud of the way the Bulldogs battled for the two rounds at the tournament. They arrived at Spokane after solid runs in the district show and the regional win over top-rated Dayton.

Baerlocher noted the Bulldogs essentially had an off week at the Arena. He pointed out just two of the Colfax starters returned to Spokane with extended state experience on the Arena court, and the newcomer mode for most to the players could have been a factor.

Davenport's 56-50 win Thursday avenged the 46-68 loss they sustained on the Colfax court on Jan. 13 in what turned out to be the only clash between the two NE teams until the quarter-final.

The Gorillas Thursday scratched out a 28-24 lead at the half. Colfax, which had a run of third quarter explosions in the district campaign at West Valley, did not ignite at the Arena after the break. They shaved just two points off the Gorilla lead, but remained within striking distance at 34-36 going into the last frame.

Senior Alexie Smith hit a bucket to keep Colfax within two, and Piper Cai hit a pair of toss shots to keep pace.

Colfax tied it at 40-40 when Carmen Gfeller hit another bucket, but Davenport refused to fade.

Gfeller, who led Colfax with 26, hit another shot with 4:30 left to again put Colfax within two points at 43-45, but Colfax scoring stopped there while Davenport had a run of eight points.

The Bulldogs missed two trey shots in the last 30 seconds of the game as they tried to catch the Gorillas one final time.

Baerlocher noted after the game that the Bulldogs hit just two three-pointers out of 20 launches.

Davenport's Abbotts, Sydney and Madison, took a toll. Sydney, a junior, finished with 15, and Madison, a senior, hit 12.

Lainy Jacobson, a 5'6'' freshman, was the unknown decider for Davenport with 14 points. Jacobson hit back-to-back treys during a seven-point run by the Gorillas early in the second quarter when they erased the early Colfax lead. Except for the 40-40 tie early the last quarter, the Gorillas kept the lead all the way.

Davenport went on to crunch Illwaco 44-20 in the semi-final round Friday and drop Kalama 56-37 in the 2B championship game.

It was the first title for the Gorillas since 1993 when coach Jim Stinson led an undefeated Gorilla club to a second consecutive win.

The quarter-final loss put Colfax up against St. George's in an all-NE elimination game. The Dragons, who already notched two wins over Colfax during the NE campaign, took control of Friday's elimination game in the second quarter and went on to a 10-point win, 52-42, to end the Colfax season.

Baerlocher said Colfax actually topped the Dragons in all the game stats except the most important one, scoring.

The Dragons rattled an 8-14 mark from the three-point range with senior Hailey Hagashi hitting four of them. Hagashi finished with 24 points to get the Dragons to the trophy round.

The Bulldogs outboarded the Dragons 40-26 and pegged a 10-5 edge in steals. They also had fewer turnovers, but the possession stats just did not convert to points.

St. George's dropped a 21-5 second quarter on the Bulldogs who never really climbed back into the game after that.

Colfax finished the season at 19-8 and will return with five seniors who were a big part of the action in this winter's campaign as juniors.

Seniors wrapping up their careers were Taylor Garcia, Sarah Kraut, Parker Warwick and Alexie Smith.

One footnote for playoff run was the entry of the three NE teams in the top bracket of the Spokane show. The NE trio landed there partly because of the WIAA rating system which landed all three NE entries in the state's top eight for the last week's regional.

Davenport 60-Colfax 56: 11/14 17/10 8/10 20/18: Piper Cai 1 (3pt) 2-2 5, Carmen Gfeller 10 (3pt) 5-7 26, Greta Geier 3 4-4 10, Taylor Garcia 1 0-0 2, Parker Warwick 2 0-0 4, Alexie Smith 1 0-0 2, Rachel Brown 0 1-2 1. Total: 18 12-15 f-22 56. Davenport: Emma Johnson 1 0-0 2, Sydney Abbott 4 7-12 15, Gale Lilje 2 2-5 6, Madison Abbott 4 4-5 12, Sydney Zeiler 3 (3pt) 0-1 7, Lainy Jacobson 5 (2-3pt) 2-2 14. Total: 19 15-25 f-12 56.

St. George's 52-Colfax 42: 6/8 21/5 12/13 13/16: Cai 1 0-0 2, Abbie Miller 4 (2-3pt) 0-0 10, Gfeller 4 6-7 14, Geier 1 1-3 3, Garcia 2 0-0 4, Warwick 1 0-0 2, Smith 1 2-2 4, Madi Cox 1 (3pt) 0-0 3. Total: 15 9-12 f-24 52. St. George's Ceci Bergquist 2 (3pt) 2-2 7, Hailey Hagashi 7 (4-3pt) 6-9 24, Abby Jones 2 (both 3pt) 5-9, Daysha Melendez 2 2-4 4, Shayla Melendez 2 (3pt) 1-2 6. Total: 15 14-24 f-11 52.