Cai, Colfax girls nip Liberty with steal, free throw

Carmen Gfeller puts up a shot for the Bullogs between Tessa Jantz and Lacey Miller of the Broncos.

A steal and one foul shot by Piper Cai with four seconds left put a 53-52 win in the books for Colfax girls at Liberty Tuesday night. The zinger win at the end of the game ended a second-half duel which saw the lead flip back and forth down to those final seconds.

Colfax took the one-point win after losing by three points to the Lancers on the Bulldogs' court Dec. 21. The two teams are now locked up at 7-1 for the top spot in the south side of the NE. They are tied at 12-2 in the overall NE race behind 13-1 St. George's which sustained its lone loss of the season to the Lancers.

Colfax came back after getting in a big hole in the first part of the game. The two clubs locked up at 48-48 and 50-50. Taylor Garcia, who led Colfax scoring with 17 points, put Colfax on top 52-50, and Liberty's Christine Denny answered for a 52-52 knot.

Colfax failed to score on its next possession. Liberty had the ball with 24 seconds on the clock. They were derailed when Cai stole a pass intended for Denny and headed down court. She was fouled by Liberty's Madelynne Flaig and dropped in the final point of the game.

Freshman Maisie Burnham led the Lancers with 18 points, but she hit the five-foul mark and had to sit out the duel over the final three minutes.

The win at Liberty capped a three-win run for the Bulldogs over five days.

Saturday on the home court, Colfax pulled out the 56-47 win over the LRS Broncos after a stone cold start in the first half. The Bulldogs scored just three points, all on foul shots, in the first quarter.

Colfax did not hit the bucket from the floor until Greta Geier hit one down the middle at 6:34 in the second quarter. Colfax caught the Broncos with 1:52 left in the half and pegged a 14-13 lead on a shot by Abbie Miller.

The Broncos came back with a six-point run to regain the lead, and the half ended at 20-17 after Carmen Gfeller landed a three pointer.

After the break, the Bulldogs hit a groove and took the lead at 25-23 with Geier hitting a three-pointer at 4:21 in the third.

The Bulldogs stacked 10 more points than the Broncos in the quarter and had a 36-29 lead going into the last quarter. The lead went to 10 points, 46-36, and Colfax coasted to the win.

Junior Peyton Curtis led the Broncos' scoring with 14 points, including 10 of 13 off the toss line.

Friday night at Asotin the Bulldogs rolled to a 21-2 lead after the first quarter on the way to a 65-30 win over the Panther girls.

Colfax offense distributed the scoring down the bench. Almost half of the Asotin points were scored by Kylan Hernandez, who finished with 14.

Colfax 53-Liberty 52: 13/19 11/10 20/17 9/6: Cai 2 (3pt) 1-3 6, Miller 3 (3pt) 2-2 9, Gfeller 5 1-2 11, Geier 3 2-2 8, 7 (2-3pt) 17. Total 21 7-11 f-12 53. Liberty: Kendyl Fletcher 1 0-0 2, Christine Denny 6 1-1 13, Flaig 5 (3pt) 0-0 11, Burnham (3pt) 5-9 18, Aleena Cook 3 0-2 8, Alysha Hubbztc 1 0-0 2. Total 22 6-12 52.

Colfax 56-Lind/Ritzville/Sprague 47: 3/8 14/12 19/9 19/18: Parker Warwick 1 (3pt) 0-0 3, Cai 1 7-13 9, Madi Cox 0 1-2 1, Miller 2 2-4 6, Josie Riebold 0 3-5 3, Gfeller 6 (3pt) 10-12 23, Geier 1 4-4 6, Garcia 2 (3pt) 0-0 5. Total: 13 21-42 f-29 56: Lind/Ritzville/Sprague: Peyton Curtis 2 10-13 14, Abby Gering 0 1-2 1, Kallie Harder 3 2-2 8, Tessa Jantz 2 (3pt) 4-6 11, Lacey Miller 3 (2-3pt) 2-2 10, Tessa O'Brien 1 (3pt) 0 0-0 3. Total: 13 18-30 f-31 47.

Colfax 65-Asotin 10: 21/2 19/11 14/8 11/8: Sarah Kragt 1 0-0 2, Warwick 2 (3pt) 0-0 5, Alexie Smith 1 0-0 2, Cai 3 (3pt) 1-1 8. Cox 2 (3pt) 0-2 5, Miller 0 1-2 1, Taylre Sackamoto-Howell 1 (3pt) 0-2 3, Riebold 1 0-0 2, Gfeller 6 (3pt) 2-2 15, Geier 3 2-2 6, Garcia 4 (2-pt) 0-0 10, Rachel Brown 1 2-2 4. Total 25 8-13 f-15 65. Asotin: Sam Nicholas 4 (3pt) 1-1 10, Adrienne Washington 1 0-0 2, Macy Mullins 0 2-2 2, Myka Lee 1 0-0 2, Kylan Hernandez 5 (2-3pt) 2-3 14. Total: 11 5-7 f-13 30.