Bulldogs dominate Vikings in Cheney

CHENEY - The Colfax Bulldogs girls basketball team walked into Cheney on Feb. 25 for the first round of the WIAA 2B girls basketball state tournament. The first round marked Colfax's first obstacle in its journey of redemption after coming in second in last year's state tournament, in addition to being the first step of chasing history as, potentially, the first undefeated Colfax girls basketball team in (at least) the last 16 years.

That obstacle was hurdled by the Bulldogs, who dominated the Mabton Vikings 77-37 in a one-sided affair.

Colfax wasted no time against Mabton, going up 13-2 in the first four minutes of the opening quarter and putting the Vikings at a double-digit deficit.

Mabton was able to slow the bleeding for the rest of the quarter, putting up seven points to the Bulldogs' nine, but still went into the second quarter still at a 22-9 disadvantage.

Colfax would continue to run up the score on its opposition, more-than doubling its offensive output in the second frame and going into halftime up 45-20.

"I love that we attacked the paint," Colfax head coach Jordan Holmes said. "We talked a lot about that, going inside. When you're as tall as we are there's no reason not to go inside. It makes the game easier and it takes the lid off the bucket for our outside shooters."

The interior offensive advantage of the Bulldogs would be showcased further in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter. Colfax opened the second half with an 11-0 run and Mabton called a timeout with 5:29 left in the frame, down 56-20.

Similarly to the first quarter, the Vikings were able to keep pace with the Bulldogs in the rest of the frame, with both teams putting up 10 points apiece, but couldn't make a dent in Colfax's lead and went into the final eight minutes of regulation down 66-30.

The final quarter of the game would be the final nail in Mabton's coffin with Colfax outscoring the Vikings 11-7 in the last eight minutes of regulation for the 40-point win.

"I thought our kids did a good job on the offensive end of the floor," Holmes said. "When you score 77, you did a good job on that end of the floor. Defensively, a little bit of a different story. I felt like we didn't rebound very well, we didn't box out really well. So that's something we need to work on on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday next week, and like I always say, we're not playing our best basketball yet. And that's exciting to me."

Brynn McGaughy paced the Bulldogs with 28 points in the win to go with 17 rebounds, nine blocks and two steals. Hailey Demler added 16 points to go with 10 rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal.

Mabton was paced with 12 points from Jezebel Ramirez.

Colfax's win earns them an extra day of preparation for its next opponent, which will be either Upper Columbia Academy or Rainer. The Bulldogs will face one of the two aforementioned teams at 5:30 p.m. on March 2 at the Spokane Arena in Spokane.

MABTON (18-7)

Esmeralda Sanchez 3 0-0 7, Jasmin Chavez 1 0-0 2, Alea Bonewell 0 0-0 0, Keirrah Roettger 1 0-0 2, Jezebel Ramirez 4 3-5 12, Amy Moreno 2 0-0 5, Ashley Macedo 2 1-2 5, Mari Galarza 0 0-0 0, Alana Zavala 2 0-3 4. Totals 15 4-7 37.

Colfax (25-0)

Jaisha Gibb 3 0-0 8, Makiah Zorb 0 0-0 0, Paige Claassen 0 0-0 0, Olivia Andrus 0 0-0 0, Brenna Gilchrist 3 0-0 7, Hailey Demler 7 1-1 16, Ashley Ring 0 0-0 0, Lauryn York 3 1-2 8, Ava Swan 2 0-0 4, Brynn McGaughy 14 0-0 28, Harper Booth 2 0-0 4, Destiny Nelson 1 0-0 2. Totals 35 2-3 77.

3-point goals – Sanchez, Ramirez, Moreno, Gibb 2, Gilchrist, Demler, York.