Fifth time is the charm

YAKIMA – Colfax finally found a way to beat Freeman.

The Bulldogs, without a senior on their roster, successfully defended their State 1A girls basketball championship, downing Northeast A League rival Freeman, 53-44, Saturday night at the SunDome.

It was Colfax’s first victory over the top-ranked Scotties in five tries this season.

The difference this time, freshman point guard Jordan Harazin said, was location.

“This is state,” the all-tournament first-team selection said. “The atmosphere here is totally different. We knew we had it in us to be able to beat that team.

“We were just sick and tired of losing to Freeman.”

Harazin, just 14 years old, was the keel that kept the Colfax ship sailing through the tournament. She ran the offense like a senior state veteran in each of the final three games of the tournament.

In the championship game, she finished with a game-high 16 points while playing sterling defense.

Stoic until the final buzzer, Harazin finally burst forth with emotion as she hugged and celebrated with her teammates.

“We grew up watching Colfax at state, watching us win championships,” she said. “We just carried on their legacy.”

Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher felt his Bulldogs were overlooked for being too young.

“Everyone said this would be a great experience for this young team to come here and get to play,” he said. “I guess it was.”

Baerlocher rankled at the suggestion early in the tournament that his Bulldogs were in Yakima to defend last year’s state title.

“That was a totally different team last year,” he said. “This year, we felt we were bringing the trophy back and just wanted the chance to play for it again. Next year, if we’re lucky enough to get back here again, then we can defend it.”

The semantic difference between concepts is subtle – unlike the difference between last year’s squad and this year’s championship slate of underclassmen.

“Last year’s team was driven,” Baerlocher said. “For that team, nothing less than finishing No. 1 was going to be good enough.

“This year’s team bonded and finally jelled down the stretch. It’s a totally different feeling.”

Colfax junior Katie Burns played her biggest role in any tournament game, sparking the Bulldogs (19-9) off the bench.

Burns was injured against Freeman in the final game of the Northeast District tournament. At first it was thought she had torn her left anterior cruciate ligament, but an MRI examination revealed that she has played for quite some time without an ACL – her knee long ago stabilized itself with surrounding muscles and ligaments.

“It meant so much to me to be able to play in this game,” Burns said. “It’s hard to explain just what the feeling is like be a part of this team. This team fought hard to come together and we did. We knew we could play well and we knew that, once we got here, we could win.”

Lauren Mellor played her biggest game of the tournament, holding Freeman post Ashlee Taylor to just five points – upholding the family tradition of playing well in big games.

Mellor’s sister, Lizzie, now playing volleyball at Eastern Washington University, was the leading scorer on Colfax’ first state championship team in 2002.

“It feels so much better to play in one of these games than to watch,” she said. “It’s so exciting to get the chance to do it. I can’t explain it.”

For Freeman (23-3), it was a case of mounting injuries on a very big stage as several seniors fought ailments during the tournament.

Meanwhile, leading scorer Jessie DePell was hampered for the second game in a row with foul trouble and scored just four first-half points. The junior finished with 15.

The Bulldogs now have won three of the past four championships.

DePell was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Junior Angie Dennison joined Harazin on the all-tournament honors list as a second-team selection. Freeman’s Taylor also received second-team honors.

White Pass 64, Lake Roosevelt 57

All-tournament selections Kendra Redmon (18 points) and Breanna Moody (16) spearheaded the Panthers to the victory and the fourth-place trophy. Lake Roosevelt (19-8) settled for the seventh-place trophy for its season. The Raiders’ Jessica Loe, a junior guard, was named to the all-tournament second team. Teammate Rhonda St. Pierre led Lake Roosevelt with 17 points against White Pass.

Boys: Bellevue C. 59, Brewster 54

The Vikings (24-2) of Bellevue Christian made 4 of 4 free throws in the final 19 seconds to defeat the Bears (23-4) in the championship game.