Colton girls' 13-year state run ends

Garth Meyer, Gazette Reporter | Feb 27, 20200

What if a basketball team made it to state 13 years in a row?

What if they won the championship eight times in row? What if they lost in the semifinals the next year and then won the championship two more times back-to-back? If it was true, it would be the Colton High School girls basketball team from 2007-20.

What if the team at one point had a 79-win streak across three years?

It was all true and the Colton girls’ in-residence at Spokane’s Washington State 1B basketball tournament ended in Walla Walla last weekend.

Colton lost 44-40 to Garfield/Palouse in a district tournament game, ending their season at 14-8 overall, 7-3 in league.

"Tonight's game didn't define our season," said Colton Head Coach Clark Vining. “We didn't get the end result we had hoped for tonight, but accomplished a lot of positives during the course of the season."

Colton led by 10 points at halftime before Kenzi Pedersen and Gar/Pal took the lead early in the fourth quarter. Paige Collier hit a banked-in three-pointer to put the Vikings up by seven with under four minutes remaining. Colton could not catch up.

Pederson led Gar/Pal with 19 points and Collier added 16. Rylee Vining scored 16 points to lead Colton in the loss, the first time the Wildcats’ season had not ended in the win column since 2006.