Bulldogs face tough field in repeat bid

Scout Cai of the Bulldogs scrambles for the ball along the baseline Saturday in front of Oroville’s Milayla Scott.

Colfax senior Amara Huber goes for the hoop past Hannah Hilderbrand early in the Bulldogs’ win over Orofino Saturday at the state regional round at Cheney High School.

Colfax girls return to the state 2B finals at the Spokane Arena today as the defending champions and one of the contenders.

The Bulldogs will play White Swan at 3:45 p.m. in the first round of the three day show.

Colfax Coach Cory Baerlocher said he likes where Colfax landed in the tourney draw and believes the Bulldogs have a chance to repeat. He also noted the state field has a lot of power clubs who will also be in the hunt for the state 2B globe.

The Bulldogs start at Spokane today after stopping Oroville 61-19 in the regional round last Saturday afternoon at Cheney High.

Colfax returns to the state finals with three seniors who were a big part of the title win last year. Amara Huber, Kori Goodwin and Andra Hamilton will finish out their hoop careers at the Arena.

Baerlocher noted Colfax is one of four number-one teams who qualified for the state grid last week.

Leading the pack on the win-loss scale is Okanogan who arrives in Spokane with a 24-0 record.

Other top qualifiers were Wahkiakum at 22-2 and LaConner at 20-0.

Baerlocher also rates Toutle Lake, back at Spokane with a 22-3 record, as a contender over the next three days.

In Sunday’s tourney draw the number one teams are set aside and the other qualifiers draw to match up with them. The system prevents two of the top teams facing each other in the first round.

Colfax, which lost to Okanogan in a non-league game early in the season, brings a 22-3 record to state.

White Swan will start against Colfax today with an 18-5 record. The Cougars qualified for the state show after taking out Dayton, 50-41 in the regional round at Chiawana High in Pasco Saturday.

Today’s Colfax-White Swan game will be opposite the Okanogan-Napavine game which will follow the game in the 2B opener.

Okanogan extended their win streak with a 60-19 win over Life Christian Academy and Napavine stopped the LRS Broncos 66-49 at Tumwater.

Colfax also enters the finals as the lone team from the two WIAA districts on the east side of the state. Northwest Christian, the NE battle foe for Colfax again this year, was stopped 63-55 by Mabton in their regional game at Sunnyside to join Dayton and Lind/Ritzille/Sprague on the sidelines.

Baerlocher noted he has one direct scouting report for White Swan: Kayla Jones, the 5-1 guard for the Cougars, has played on Baerlocher’s summer team. She rates as second team coach on the court.

One other Cougar player certain to be a factor is 6-1 post Emily Botkin, a dominator for the inside game.

Prior to the win over Dayton last week, White Swan finished their regional round with a 66-35 win over Oroville in the mid- state playoffs. That sent Oroville to Cheney where they faced Colfax Saturday afternoon in the regional qualifier. Oroville arrived with a 15-9 mark.

Colfax again Saturday dominated the game on defense to set up the heavy win. Baerlocher noted the Bulldogs came out with a high octane defense which was a holdover from a frantic practice session on the home court Friday.

Colfax in the first half at Cheney used a pressure defense against the Hornets who were unable to get their offense in gear.

Colfax broke to a 12-2 lead in the first period and finished it out at 12-4 after the Hornets hit their second bucket in the last seconds of the frame.

The Bulldogs used a pressure defense in the first half which generated a host of turnovers at midcourt, Colfax finished with 11 steals, and the Hornets committed 26 turnovers in the game.

Senior Lily Hilderbrand, who has a 16-plus game average for the season was held to nine points.

Twice in the first half, when Colfax starters used the press, Oroville turned the ball over on a five second call when the couldn’t get ball inbounds at the baseline.

Frustration also showed when Oroville Coach Mike Bourn was called for a T in the first half after he slapped the court in response a sideline call that went against his team after a tussle near the scorer’s bench.

Colfax backed off the defense after the break, and the Hornets hit five quick points. That turned out to be their ration for the third quarter against a Bulldog defense which had switched to what Baerlocher calls Portland .

Colfax activated all of the reserves in the fourth quarter, and the Hornets had just one bucket, by Tori Kindred, for the frame.

Orofino, like Dayton last week, Finished with just six field goals against the Bulldogs

Baerlocher noted four of the Colfax starters were limited to 14 just minutes in the regional round.

Sophomore Taylor Garcia led the Colfax scoring with 11 points.

Colfax 61-Oroville 19: 12/4 24/8 15/5 10/2: Amara Huber 2 2-2 6, Andra Hamilton 3 (2-3pt) 0-0 8, Kori Goodwin 1 3-4 5, Ashtyn Aune 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Katelyn Scholz 1 (3 pt) 0-0 3, Scout Cai 3 (3pt) 1 -1 8, Olivia Mellor 1 0-0 2, Carmen Gfeller 4 1-2 9, Sidney Sheer 1 0-0 2, Taylor Garcia 5 (3pt) 0-1 11, Faith Markley 1 0-1 2. Total: 24 7-11 f-13 61. Oroville: Hannah Hildebrand 1 0-0 2, Tori Kindred 1 0-0 2, Lily Hildebrand 2 (3pt) 4-4 9, Mikayla Scott 1 0-0 2, Jordan Smith 1 2-2 4. Total: 6 6-6 19.