Girls 2B: Defending State 2B champion Davenport moves into semifinals

There’s something to be said for playing on Wednesday and not starting your state tournament journey in the quarterfinals against a team that has a win under its belt.

Defending State 2B champion Davenport has now done it both ways over the last two tournaments.

“We played on Wednesday last year,” Gorillas coach Stacia Soliday said. “I think we had a little better flow than we had today.”

Davenport found just enough flow to hold off Life Christian Academy in Thursday’s fourth quarterfinal battle in the Spokane Arena, earning a 55-49 win over the Tacoma team.

The Gorillas face Napavine in Friday’s second semifinal battle at 5:30. Colfax plays St. George’s for the third time this season at 3:45.

For Davenport, this is a significantly, well, fresher team of Gorillas than Soliday had last year.

The No. 2-ranked team in the state has five freshmen on its roster plus two sophomores, two juniors and a senior. Two freshmen start and these youngsters won 20 games before taking the floor for the State 2B.

“Two of our freshmen were managers for us last year,” Soliday said. “I thought they’d be a little more prepared for all of this than they were.”

Davenport, behind senior Sydney Abbott’s two early 3-pointers and eight first-quarter points, the Gorillas built a 17-11 lead after a quarter.

Despite having two freshmen in the starting lineup, they used crisp passes to efficiently move the ball up the floor and attack the basket before Life Christian could establish a defender.

And then the shots stopped falling.

Abbot hit the first of two free throws early in the second quarter and then a drought set in.

The Eagles climbed back, getting to 18-16 before sophomore Lainy Jacobson got a shot to fall.

Davenport never surrendered the lead. The Eagles got within two points twice in the second quarter and both times Davenport answered – the second time Sydney Zeiler nailed a 3-pointer and Jacobson turned a three-point play and the team held a 30-22 lead at the break.

Life Christian got within a single point in the third, 36-35. Abbott answered with 1 of 2 free throws and Jacobson hit two jumpers to make it 41-37 going into the fourth quarter.

Abbott grew increasingly frustrated with the way the game turned and some of the calls were going against her team.

But each time her frustration threatened to bubble over, she quickly checked herself and maintained the calm demeanor her teammates needed.

“That’s something we’ve been working on with her all season,” the coach said. “She’s our only senior and we need her to be patient and set a tone for the team.”

For a team struggling to get shots to fall, the Gorillas’ next opponent, the Napavine Tigers, present a formidable opponent – one shooting 51.7 percent over two games – hitting 45 of 87 from the floor and 12 of 33 from bend the arc.

“I did not see their game today, but what I saw (Wednesday) they are very good at taking good shots at the right time,” Soliday said.