State 1A: Freeman boys, Medical Lake girls reach semifinals

YAKIMA – Freeman powered its way to a big third-period lead and survived a shaky final quarter to get past King’s on Thursday, advancing to the State 1A boys semifinals with a 58-51 win at the SunDome.

The Scotties (23-0) will face defending champion Zillah (25-1) in what will essentially be a home game for the Leopards, whose school is 10 miles from the SunDome. Zillah beat Freeman 69-53 in the 2017 championship game.

Freeman used precise offensive execution and stingy defense in the third period to take an 18-point lead with about 9 minutes left in the game. The game to that point included a more than 6-minute period in which the Scotties shut out King’s.

But the Knights turned up their defensive pressure down the stretch and slowly whittled the margin. Down 48-32 after three periods, King’s trailed by five points with just more than a minute to go.

“I wish we would have taken care of the ball a little bit better and made some free throws. But we found a way to dig it out.” Freeman coach Marty Jessett said after the game.

Freeman hit just 7 of 13 free throws in the second half while King’s hit 10 of 13.

More frustrating for Jessett was that the Scotties handled King’s pressure with little problem in the third period, but the fourth was another matter entirely.

Compounding that were some poor defensive choices.

“We were gambling when we shouldn’t and not keeping our guy in front of us,” Jessett said. “We’re going to have to do a way better job than that tomorrow if we want to beat Zillah. They’re too fast for us to let our guy beat us off the dribble.”

Dylan Oja led Freeman with 16 points, Michael Coumont and Quin Hopkins had 14 each. Jackson Clark pulled down nine rebounds and Hopkins had eight.

Girls

Medical Lake 45, La Center 31: The Cardinals stunned the Wildcats with a 23-0 fourth-quarter blitz to advance to the semifinals in their first trip to state since 1991.

Medical Lake (23-0) will face Lynden Christian in the first semifinal tonight at 7:15.

The Cardinals looked lethargic and struggled through three periods against La Center, trailing 28-22. But the offensive surge turned things around and at the 3:17 mark of the fourth period, Medical Lake was sporting a 15-point advantage.

Lexie Redell, who had 10 points in the fourth period, led the Cardinals with 15 points. Jayda Noble had 13 rebounds and nine steals.

Lynden Christian 53, Lakeside 30: The top-seeded Lyncs smoothly secured a 10-point lead in the first half against the Eagles and ran away to an easy quarterfinal win.

Lakeside, the lowest remaining seed in the field at No. 7, faces La Center in a consolation game this afternoon at 12:15. A win there would give the Eagles a chance to win a trophy for the first time since the 2010 season, when they finished seventh.

Lakeside (18-8) was held to 21-percent shooting from the field in the first half. Meanwhile, Lynden Christian senior standout Avery Dykstra hit both of her 3-point attempts and had eight points. Teammate Isabela Hernandez had nine points.

Sienna Swannack led Lakeside with 18 points.