Curlew bottles up Lightning for win

There’s an old saying that good things come to those who wait.

For the Curlew girls basketball team, 27 years for a State B trophy was quite long enough.

The Cougars hit nine free throws in the fourth quarter to overcome foul trouble and a late La Salle run, winning 52-48 in a State B quarterfinal game Thursday at the Spokane Arena.

“It feels great. … The girls have worked really hard for this,” Curlew head coach Ted Torzewski said. “I can’t even describe it.”

Super sophomores Amanda Grumbach and Nichole Miller led the Cougars (24-5) in their quest to earn a trophy and play on Saturday for the first time since 1978, when they finished third.

For Miller, the victory was probably 1,000 times as sweet.

Needing just three points to reach 1,000 for her career, Miller went to work inside. She hit a bank shot on the left side with 4 minutes left in the first quarter, then reached the milestone after putting back a missed free throw by teammate April Barkley with 1:27 left in the quarter.

Grumbach filled the stat sheet for Curlew with 17 points, nine rebounds, five assists and five steals. But her biggest contribution of the night lasted all of 46 seconds.

With 6 minutes left in the second quarter, Grumbach took a pass from Miller and hit a shot in the low post on the right side. With 5:37 left, Grumbach hit from almost the exact spot. Grumbach then stole the ball in the La Salle backcourt and broke away for a layup with 5:14 left.

“It was huge [for us],” Grumbach said. “We knew we had to capitalize right then to push forward and get them down going into halftime.”

Grumbach’s offensive spurt gave Curlew the game’s momentum and a 15-12 lead.

The Cougars continued to build momentum throughout the rest of the first half, taking a 23-17 lead into the locker room.

Curlew kept applying the pressure in the third quarter, completely shutting down La Salle freshman star Jasmine Stohr and senior Carlie Gosser.

“We knew they were the shooters,” Torzewski said. “We decided we weren’t gonna let them score.”

While La Salle fizzled on offense, Curlew flourished behind point guard Brittany Strandberg. The senior hit a 3-pointer to put the Cougars up 10 points and a layup to beat the shot clock and increase the lead to 15.

Curlew appeared to have the game well in hand with a minute left in the third, when Kady Kirkendall hit a jumper just inside the 3-point line to give the Cougars their largest lead, 40-23.

But the game started to shift in La Salle’s favor after Miller picked up her fourth foul with 32 seconds left in the third.

Without a 5-foot-11 presence inside, the Lightning charged back. Gosser’s 3-pointers started to fall, and fellow senior Cristal German set up shop on the right side of the key.

“We had our intensity and our legs back a little bit,” said La Salle coach Todd Kent. “The kids hit some tough shots.”

The result was a 17-3 run after Miller’s fourth foul, in which both Miller and Kirkendall fouled out. This hurt an already-depleted Curlew bench, which dresses only eight players.

“Those two that came in really hadn’t played much the whole year, and [freshman Kyanne Somday] came back from a broken hand and hadn’t played all season,” Grumbach said. “She stepped up there and came up with some big rebounds in the end.”

The Lightning came within three points on three occasions in the fourth quarter, including a Gosser 3-pointer from the left corner with 22 seconds left.

But Curlew managed to hold on, as Strandberg hit the first of two free throws with 10.1 seconds left.

The win puts Curlew into the semifinals against Almira/Coulee-Hartline, which blew out Sunnyside Christian 69-48 in its quarterfinal. The teams met in the District 7 semifinals, with ACH pulling out a 44-37 victory.