Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
The Colfax girls congratulate their Brewster opponents Feb. 29. Colfax would open the state tournament Wednesday at Spokane Arena in an elimination game.
Colfax senior Shyah Antoine races for two more points in the Bulldogs' win over Brewster.
The Colfax girls advanced to state with an afternoon exercise against Brewster, winning 58-27 at University High School Feb. 29 in Spokane.
Colfax, a no. 12-seed, controlled the game early.
A steal and pass-around, into Sidney Berquist for a four-footer and Colfax led 33-8 with 2:26 left in the first half.
At halftime, Coach Corey Baerlocher stepped around the Brewster bench and patted an injured player on the shoulder on his way to the locker room.
The Bulldogs soon came out for the third quarter, up 37-9.
"The Bulldogs are back, and ready to attack!" called the cheerleaders.
Skylre Sakamoto-Howell hit from the corner for 44-11, and again for 47-11 as Baerlocher subbed players in and out.
"Have you noticed how your teammates are being aggressive? Box out, don't just turn and look," he said.
At 7:42 in the fourth, up 55-17, the coach gave more direction.
"14 is a shooter. That's what I said before the game," he said.
The band got up and played a couple more songs and the cheerleaders finished it off.
"V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!" they chanted.
York and Sakamoto-Howell both scored 14 points and Sidney Berquist 10 points. Perry Imler had nine rebounds and Anni Cox seven steals.
No. 12-seeded Colfax advances to play no. 4 Toledo at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday at Spokane Arena. All Wednesday matchups are elimination games.
"I'm excited. Our kids have truly come together and started playing some good basketball, and we saw that Saturday," Baerlocher said. "Our kids made the extra pass."
Baerlocher, in his 18th-year as Colfax coach, will return to state for the 16th time.
"We have all the pieces, as long as our kids are focused and the coaches do their job," he said. "We'll need a couple breaks, the ball will need to bounce our way once or twice."
Last year, the Bulldogs were eliminated in districts.
On Tuesday night, the eve-of-state Colfax girls' T-shirt painting tradition resumed at the high school cafeteria as grade school kids joined the players to eat pizza and paint shirts to support the Bulldogs at state. Proceeds from the Colfax summer basketball camp pay for the tradition.
"These players were those kids," Baerlocher said.
Also when the 2019-20 varsity girls were younger, the coach considered what he had coming up.
"These sophomores and juniors, when they were seventh and eighth graders, I took them to play in AAU tournaments and they ripped people," Baerlocher said. "People look at this team and say, next year? Let's do it this year. Next year, too."
The Bulldogs were set to open state Wednesday in an elimination game against no. 4-seed Toledo.
"They're big. They're a very physical team," said Baerlocher. "They like to make contact. (Senior guard) Kaitlyn Cornish will be guarding a girl she's about a third the size of."
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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