Colton sets record at five

 


Gazette Editor

The Colton girls ventured where no Washington state team has gone before when they disposed of an early 10-point run by Sunnyside Christian and rolled past the Knights in the second half of the 1B girls championship game at the Spokane Arena.

Colton players show their number of consecutive 1B state championships Saturday in Spokane. The final game, against Sunnyside Christian, was close for three quarters.

Colton took out the undefeated Knights with a 55-40 win.

Saturday’s win marked five state trophies in a row for the Wildcats who last year tied the Colfax record when they rolled home with their fourth straight state trophy.

Five consecutive state championships is the most any Washington boys or girls team (of any class) has won in basketball.

“The feeling as a senior is so much better,” said Paige Vincent, who has been a part of the last four championships.

“I feel like we had some butterflies in the first half but we have experience here, which is kind of nice.”

Colton Saturday afternoon went into the title game after two crushing wins in the first two rounds of the tournament.

They served notice to the other contenders Thursday by roaring past Taholah 77-15 in the opener. Colton’s defense shut out the Chitwins’ offense in the first and third quarters of the opener.

Friday Colton took it up another notch with a 71-30 win over Wilbur/Creston in the semi-final round.

That put the Wildcats up against Sunnyside Christian, a team which arrived at Spokane with a 23-0 record, including the 57-51 edge over Tekoa/Oakesdale last week in the regional round.

The Knights started their tourney run with a 52-27 derailment of St. John/Endicott Thursday and then rapped Pateros 78-38 in the Friday semi.

The matching sets of power wins by the two finalists signaled an automatic “game on” collision for the championship game.

Sunnyside started the title game with 10 unanswered points that suggested to tourney fans that the season’s biggest stop could be hatching. But Colton again let out the clutch, particularly on defense, and powered past the previously undefeated Sunnyside club.

The Knights’ lead stuck to 24-21 at the half. Colton caught them early in the third quarter and never looked back. Tally for the second half was 34 for Colton and 16 for the Knights.

The Wildcats found the range on three-point shots, a key factor to stopping the larger front line of the Knights. Colton finished with seven treys. Overall they cooked a 19-54 shooting night in the title game.

The 54 shots indicates a big lead in the possession game. Sunnyside turned the ball over 24 times to Colton’s pressure defense. Colton had 12 turnovers.

Jenna Moser, who had trouble finding the range in the first half, led Colton with 20 points, and Vincent finished with 19.

Friday, Colton also had to dispatch an early lead posted by Wilbur/Creston in the semi-final round before taking out the WC Wildcats 71-30.

Coach Vining adjusted his lineup against the physical format of WC, and Colton took off. They led 39-18 at the break on the way to the 41-point win.

Jenna Moser hit 26 against the mid-staters with four three-point shots, and Zoe Moser finished with 12. Colton shot 53 percent, 15 for 28 in the first half.

Thursday in the opener, Colton started the tourney run by scoring 23 unanswered points against the Chitwins.

Dramikha Skaar, top scorer for Taholah with an 18-plus average was held to just a point.

Colton will graduate five senors off this year’s club. Closing out their hoop careers over a span when Colton ended every season with the state’s top 1B trophy will be Payton Meyer, Kaden Druffel, Vincent, Kaitlin Druffel, and Raylynn Smith.

“I hope everybody knows how blessed we are to have this experience,” said Vincent.

Colton 55-Sunnyside Christian 40: 8/14 13/10 14/7 20/9: Jenna Moser 7 (3-3pt) 5-5 20, Zoe Moser 0 3-4 3, Paige Vincent 8 3-5 19, Kaitlin Druffel 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Hannah Kramer 2 (both 3pt) 6, Savannah Chadwick 0 1-2 1, Jackie Warner 1 0-0 2, Raylynn Smith 1 (3pt) 1-2 4. Total: 19 10-15 f-13 50. Sunnyside Christian: Annie Brouwer 3 0-1 6, Melissa Dalrymple 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Katelyn Banks 4 (2-3pt) 2-3 13, Brittan Boersma 2 0-0 4, Stormee Van Belle 1 (3pt) 3-4 6, Rita Dalrymple 4 0-0 8, Total: 15 6-9 f-14 40.

Colton 71-Wilbur/Creston 30: 25/9 14/9 17/6 15/6: Jena Moser 9 (4-3pt) 4-7 26, Zoe Moser 3 (2-3pt) 4-4 12, Payton Meyer 1 0-0 2, Kaden Dahmen 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Paige Vincent 5 0-0 10, Kaitlin Druffel 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Savanah Chadwick 0 1-2 1, Jackie Warner 1 1-2 3, Raylynn Smith 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6. Total 25 10-16 f-23 71. Wilbur/Creston: Brianna Goodlake 0 2-6 2, Sarah Dreger 0 3-4 3, Jessica Boyer 2 (3pt) 1-2 6, Lauren Leva 1 1-2 4, Hannah Haglin 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Alex Potts 1 (3pt) 2-4 5, Mason Jaeger 0 1-2 1, Kaelee Reed 2 2-5 6 Total: 7 12-27 f-17 30.

Colton 77-Taholah 15: 23/0 22/10 16/0 16/5: Jenna Moser 5 (2-3pt) 2-4 14, Zoe Moser 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Payton Meyer 5 0-0 10, Kaden Dahmen 1 0-0 2, Paige Vincent 5 4-6 14, Kaitlin Druffel 4 (2-3pt) 0-0 10, Savannah Chadwick 2 (both 3pt) 0-0 6, Jackie Warner 6 1-3 13, Raylynn Smith 1 (3pt) 2-2 5. Total: 30 9-15 f-9 77. Taholah: Laura James 1 0-0 2, Karleena Walther 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Dramika Skaar 0 1-2 1, Patricia Dunn 2 0-0 4. Total 6 1-4 f-12 15.

 

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