Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Haley Moser of the Wildcats goes past Kaylea Newton Friday in the SE championship game. Alli Winters is at left for the Eagles.
Will they meet again?
Colton’s Wildcats and the SJE Eagles were booked into the first round of the state 1B girls tournament Wednesday after taking the two SE tickets out of the finals at Endicott last week. The two Whitman foes finished in the first 1B title game last year, and local fans who tracked them this year wonder if they will repeat the match in the title game at the SunDome Saturday.
Colton Friday powered past SJE in the district title game 43-33 to get the top state ticket. The win sent Coach Clark Vining and his crew of Wildcat state veterans back to Tacoma.
Colton was matched up against Kings Way Christian in the second game at the SunDome Wednesday. They played opposite the Bickleton-Lummi game with the winners meeting in the quarter-finals today.
St. John/Endicott was booked against Almira-Coulee-Hartline today in the first round of the night division.
Colton departed with a 21-1 record. That includes wins over 2B clubs who plugged into the SE schedule during the season’s run. The lone loss for the Wildcats during the year was in the last league matchup with the Eagles at Colton.
In the SE title game Friday at Endicott, the Wildcats put a defensive clamp on the Eagles. After a close start, they moved out to a 27-14 lead at the break after McKenzie Heaslet dropped a putback at the end of the half.
The two contenders battled through the first 3:40 of the second half without a score before Kelsey Simon hit a three pointer to get the Eagles within 10 points. Simon hit it again to cut it to eight points and Kelsey Moser, who was leading Colton’s defense, picked up her fourth foul.
But Colton went back on the attack with Heaslet hitting again on the inside for a 31-19 edge going into the last minute of the quarter.
Mollie Kramer led Colton with 14 points, and Alli Winters topped the Eagles with 13.
ST. JOHN/ENDICOTT Saturday came back to defeat Rosalia 47-37 in the last round at Endicott with Winters hitting 11 and Kelly VanLith 10. The Eagles had a 14 point lead on the Spartans after the first quarter.
Rosalia, which nipped SJE in the last league round, was led by 15 points from Briann Maley.
The Spartans advanced to the SE’s last game after eliminating LaCrosse/Washtucna 44-28 in the Friday consolation round. The Spartans sprinted for 39 beans after the break to end the season for the Tigercats.
Briann Maley scored 12 points in the consolation win, and Samantha Wilson hit 11.
The Spartan/Tigercat eliminator was booked after the two county clubs eliminated entrants from the south side of the SE last Monday. The Tigercats stopped Tri-Cities Prep and Rosalia stopped Touchet.
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Colton 43-SJE 33: 13/7 12/7 5/8 5/8: Kelsey Moser 3 4-8 10, Haley Moser 1 2-6 4, McKenzie Heaslet 4 1-2 9, Grace Druffel 1 0-1 2, Mikayla Nygreen 0 3-4 3, Kaitlin Druffel 0 1-4 1, Millie Kramer 6 2-2 14. Total: 16 13-28 f-17 43. SJE: Alli Winters 4 (3pt) 4-6 13, Kelsey Simon 4 (3pt) 0-2 9, Gretchen Van Lith 1 0-0 2, Kayla Newton 1 0-0 2, Trisha Luft 1 0-0 2, Katie Jensema 1 0-0 2, Kelly Van Lith 1 1-3 3. Total: 13 5-11 f-25 33.
SATURDAY QUALIFIER
St. John/Endicott 47-Rosalia 37 19/5 9/10 10/8 9/14: Winters 11, Simon 4, G. Van Lith 6, Newton 6, Luft 6, Erin Schuster 2, Jensema 2, Kelly Van Lith 10. Rosalia: Maddy St. John 2, Tayler Nelson 1, Briann Maley 15, Samantha Wilson 10, Kristen Paulson 9.
Reader Comments(0)