Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
With “The Drive For Five” t-shirts seen in the gym, indicating the team’s mission, the Colton girls began their quest for a fifth-straight state championship with an 89-27 win over Columbia in the 1B Regionals.
The swarm of the Colton defense closes in on a Columbia player at WWHS.
They led 31-8 with 6:14 left in the second quarter Friday night at Walla Walla High School.
Five minutes later, Kaden Dahmen hit a three-pointer to make it 53-12.
Another three before halftime made it 56-14, from Savannah Chadwick.
With tenths of a second remaining in the half, Zoe Moser almost hit from three and the team all ran to the locker room.
Later, they jogged back out and Raylynn Smith opened the second half with a foot-on-the line three-pointer which was worth just two. Chadwick hit a three-pointer for 68-19 with 2:28 left in the third quarter.
Jackie Warner hit a three-pointer off of the backboard for 71-17 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.
Colton subbed out one five for another five players.
Then Dahmen hit a three-pointer off of the backboard for 79-21. Later, with two minutes left, Chadwick hit from three for 86-25.
Chadwick bounced in another three-pointer for 89-27 with 29 seconds left.
After the buzzer, Colton congratulated their opponents and ran to the locker room.
“I thought we played great, offensively and defensively,” said Vikings coach Clark Vining. “We’re trying to get better every week. We’re playing pretty well right now.”
Colton’s efforts start early.
“We have a system we put in and these kids have run the same system since they were little kids,” Vining said.
Colton will open the state tournament against Taholah at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Spokane Arena.
Colton 89-Columbia 27: 25/8 30/6 17/5 1 6/8: Jenna Moser 14, Zoe Moser 7, Payton Meyer 6, Kaden Dahmen 12, Paige Vincent 7, Kaitlin Druffel 4, Chadwick 17, Jackie Warner 12, Raylynn Smith 9. Columbia of Hunters: Williams 9, Keedy 2 LaRue 3, Williams 2, Flett 7, Jones 4.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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