By Greg Lee, NWPrepsNow.com
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Not their best but plenty good enough.
The Gonzaga Prep girls basketball team won’t chalk its 61-46 win over Davis in the 4A Regionals Saturday afternoon as one of its best of the season, but the Bullpups were too much for the Pirates at Central Valley.
The Bullpups (22-1) advance to state, which begins Thursday at the Tacoma Dome. They’ll learn their first-round opponent today when the WIAA holds the draw in Renton.
G-Prep led by as much as 25 points in the second half, but the Bullpups didn’t finish like they usually do.
“If we want to make a run at the big game (state final), we’re going to have to execute a lot better,” G-Prep coach Mike Arte said.
The Bullpups started fast, opening a 19-9 lead by the end of the first quarter.
A 10-0 run to start the second period allowed G-Prep to open its biggest first-half lead at 29-9 with 5:49 to go before halftime.
Twice in the third quarter the Bullpups extended their advantage to 25 points.
Then in the fourth they got a little sloppy – although the outcome was never in doubt.
“In the fourth quarter we kind of let it slip away a little bit,” said guard Laura Stockton, who scored a game-high 21 points to go with six assists, four rebounds and two steals. “We weren’t playing very good defense or executing our shots.”
Forward Oona Harrington thought the Bullpups played well overall despite the finish.
“Other than that we played pretty well,” said Harrington, who had 17 points and seven rebounds.
Post Otiona Gildon had a quiet offensive game, finishing with 10 points, but she had a team-high 10 rebounds.
“We talk about keeping the foot on the gas pedal and finishing games,” Arte said. “We just kind of went through the motions a little bit in the fourth quarter.”
One constant for the Bullpups, though was their defense. They forced the majority of the Pirates’ 25 turnovers.
“It wasn’t our best but we’ll be ready for the challenge at state,” Stockton said. “We’ve been preparing for it all season.”
