Colfax begins season with comeback win

COLFAX – Girls basketball tipped off in Colfax on Nov. 29, and the Colfax Bulldogs wasted no time putting together a drama-filled game in front of their fans this season.

Colfax opened the first quarter with a 3-pointer and built off that to the tune of an 11-9 lead over the visiting Lakeside Eagles. Lakeside took its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer with just under a minute to go in the first frame and continued to hold the lead for the majority of the game, eventually expanding to a 27-17 Eagles' lead with just over three minutes to go in the first half.

The Bulldogs scored eight straight points to get within two at :47 to go in the first half before Lakeside went on a 4-1 run in the final seconds to go into halftime with a 31-26 lead.

"We just needed to battle," Colfax head coach Jordan Holmes said. "I told the girls 'every team is going to be coming for us.' That's what this year is going to look like because we're Colfax and because we had a good season last year, and so now, we have a target on our backs so it's a different perspective than last season was when we didn't have the pressure."

Colfax came out in the second half with the first bucket to get within three before Lakeside went on a 5-2 run to go back up by six points. Then, the Bulldogs started to make their own run to get back in the game.

Colfax got within three via an offensive rebound and a layup by senior point guard Jaisha Gibb, followed by a coast-to-coast layup by sophomore forward Brynn McGaughy.

The Lady Bulldogs continued to battle and tied the game at 41 apiece with 1:59 to go in the third frame.

McGaughy hit a buzzer-beating layup to end the third quarter to give Colfax its first lead since the first quarter at 45-44.

It was Lakeside's turn to tie the game up in the fourth at 47 apiece, before Colfax went on a 10-2 run in the final five minutes of the game to take a 57-49 victory, which gave the team the momentum heading into its next-day Nov. 30 game against Mabton High School in Colfax.

"It's a totally different game (against Mabton)," Holmes said. "(Mabton has) shorter kids, they're not as tall (as Lakeside), but they're fast as heck. They're great from beyond the arc, and they're going to press us the entire game. So we just have to stay composed, calm under pressure, make good

decisions and expose them. When they want to pressure us we need to expose them for what it's worth and fly down the floor and make a lay-in."

McGaughy led the way for the Bulldogs with 27 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a block while Gibb was the main facilitator with three assists to go with her seven points.