Abbie Miller steps up: Colfax comeback bags state 2B title at Spokane

Piper Cai of Colfax goes up over Sydney Abbott for a shot early in the title game.

It came down to the last three minutes of the championship game Saturday. After traveling all the way across the state to win a ticket to Spokane and pegging two solid wins in the first two rounds at the 2B tournament, the Colfax girls trailed by seven points, 39-46, against Davenport with 3:39 left in the title game.

The Gorillas, defending champions, were close to wrapping it up and heading home, westbound out Highway 2, with the state 2B globe trophy still in their clutches.

On their next possession the Bulldogs opted to go perimeter. They threw the ball out to Abbie Miller, and she hit a three.

That cut the Gorilla lead to four, 46-42.

Davenport came back with a foul shot to get the gap back up to five.

Then Abbie Miller hit another three, and it was 47-45.

Davenport’s Darby Soliday was called for her fifth foul and headed for the bench, and Piper Cai hit one of the two foul shots. It’s now 47-46 with 1:57 left.

Carmen Gfeller gets called for a foul on a rebound, but Davenport’s Sydney Abbott missed from the line.

Abbie Miller hits another three, and the Bulldogs lead 49-47.

Abbott misses for the Gorillas.

Then Miller hits a two-pointer on a layup feed from Gfeller. It’s now 51-47 with 21.7 left.

Davenport’s last shot falls short.

Then Miller tops it off at the toss line.

Buzzer. Colfax wins the title, its first since 2014, at 53-47 after a 14-1 point swing. Miller hit 13 of them.

Carmen Gfeller takes a shot after a steal while Sydney Zeiler attempts to make a stop.

The Bulldogs topped Davenport after dropping Tri-Cities Prep 65-47 in the quarter finals at Spokane Thursday and out-lasting league foe St. George’s 55-48 in the semi-final round.

The three wins at state followed a 62-46 win last week when the Bulldogs had to travel all the way across the state to face Napavine.

Colfax, which thrashed Davenport with a 13-0 outbreak in the NE title game, also had a fast start in Saturday’s title game. They went ahead 7-0, but the Gorillas got to work and tied it at 16-16 in the second quarter. They moved to a 20-16 lead, and Colfax came back to within one point with a three-point shot by Skylre Sakamoto-Howell just before the end of the half.

The game tied at 33-33 and 35-35 before Davenport hit a quick five points break out the 46-39 lead at the 3:39 mark.

Friday in the semi-finals Colfax rolled out the 55-48 win over St. George’s in more deliberate style. Colfax had a 21-15 lead at the half and cooked it up to 12 points and then back to 10 and then nine points with Dragon freshman Izzy Boring hitting a bucket and a foul shot. At that point, St. George’s went into a foul mode to get possession of the ball as the game clock wound down.

Carmen Gfeller, who finished with 28 points in the semi, hit seven of eight foul shots down to the last seconds, and Greta Geier hit two. The last nine points for Colfax came at the toss line.

The Dragons finished with 24 fouls.

The semi matchup with the Dragons came after Colfax rolled past Tri-Cities Prep 65-47 in the quarter-final.

Gfeller hit 32 against the Jaguars who made it to the quarter-final after a 55-24 win over Friday Harbor and a 77-63 win over White Swan in the Wednesday elimination.

The Jags made it to Spokane after posting a 18-5 record with a team which included just one senior.

Gfeller hit 32 in the quarter game. For the first two rounds at state she rolled out 60 points, a tally which was duly noted by Davenport coach Stacia Soliday when they charted a defense for the title game.

Colfax finished the title season with a 23-4 record. Their last loss was a one-pointer to St George’s when they made a visit here Jan. 5.

Colfax seniors Gfeller, Geier, Cai, Miller and Josie Riebold wrapped up their hoop careers with the title win.

One footnote for the state tournament: the dominating 1-2-3 finish by NE contenders Colfax, Davenport and St. George’s was the same order posted two week’s earlier when the NE wrapped up its playoffs at West Valley.

Colfax 65-Tri-Cities Prep 47 11/17 21/8 13/11 20/10: Skylre Sakamoto-Howell 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Piper Cai 5 3-6 13, Abbie Miller 1 (3pt) 0-2 3, Josie Riebold 1 0-0 2, Carmen Gfeller 12 (3 3pt) 5-5 32, Greta Geier 2 2-2 6. Total 23 13-19 f-15 65. Tri-Cities Prep Makenna Brandner 5 (4 3pt) 0-0 14, Emily Dixon 2 1-3 5, Abby Boothe 3 (2 3pt) 8, Alysa Monteon 1 0-0,2, Madeline White 0 2-5 2, Talia Von Oelhofen 7 (3pt) 1-1 16 Total 18 4-9 47

Colfax 55-St. Georges 48: S. Sakamoto-Howell 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Shyah Antoine 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Cai 1 (3pt) 2-11 5, Miller 2 (both 3pt) 1-2 7, Josie Riebold 1 0-0 2, Gfeller 10 8-9 28, Geier 2 3-5 7. Total 18 15-32 f-12 55. St. George’s Lydia Berquist 1 4-4 6, Ceci Berquist 4 2-5 10, Mia Smith 1 0-0 2, Izzy Boring 1 4-7 6, Cambrie Rickard 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Shayla Melendez 4 2-4 10, Daysha Melendez 4 2-4 10. Total 16 12-17 f-24 48.

Colfax 53-Davenport 47: 11/8 8/12 14/13 20/14: Cai 2 (3pt) 3-5 8, Miller 6 (5 3pt) 2-2 19, Gfeller 2 0-0 4, S. Sakamoto-Howell 1 (3pt) 1-2 4, Rachel Brown 2 0-0 4. Total 19 6-10 f-17 53. Davenport: Sydney Abbott 5 (2 3pt) 6-10 18, Darby Soliday 0 2-3 2, Janaye Wilkie 0 1-2 1, Lainy Jacobsen w5 1-1 11, Sydney Zeiller 4 (3 3pt) 1-3 12, Marcie Hopkins 1 (3pt) 0-0 3. Total 15 11-19 47.

Greta Geier launches a shot between Gorilla defenders.