Curlew captures girls state berth

As if the fourth meeting between divisional rivals needed any more intensity, Curlew and Inchelium’s girls were playing Wednesday to clinch a spot in the State B Tournament.

It took nearly all 32 minutes to sort it out.

Curlew’s late defense and clutch foul shooting were the difference, as it earned its second straight trip to Spokane with a 50-42 win over the Hornets (21-5) in the District 7 semifinals at Mt. Spokane.

Seventh-ranked Curlew (22-2) held a 44-42 lead with 2:41 to go, but Inchelium didn’t score the rest of the way.

Inchelium, which had 14 offensive rebounds, was one-and-done the rest of the way, missing its last six shots. Curlew hit six consecutive free throws in the last 43.1 seconds.

“Down the stretch, we decided we were going to rebound,” Curlew first-year head coach Dan Miller said. “We knew that to win that game, we had to keep them from getting offensive rebounds.”

Nichole Miller, Curlew’s 5-foot-11 junior post, had 13 rebounds and hit four of the Cougars’ free throws down the stretch to finish with 23 points.

Miller had 15 in the first half, but Inchelium limited her to one bucket in the second with double- and triple-teams.

Curlew’s biggest shot might have been while holding a 41-38 lead with 3:16 left.

Curlew hadn’t made Inchelium pay for sagging until April Barkley drained a 3-pointer from the left wing while being fouled. It was Barkley’s only field-goal attempt and gave Curlew a six-point cushion, which it needed as the Hornets rallied with a four-point run.

“The difference in the last few minutes was April Barkley’s 3,” Nichole Miller said. “That made me believe that we were going to do it, and it just brought everyone up.”

Curlew plays Sprague-Harrington (25-0) at 5:15 p.m. Saturday at Mt. Spokane High in the championship. Inchelium plays Davenport at 6:45 Friday at Mt. Spokane, needing to win two loser-out games for its first state appearance since 1979.

S-H 67, Cusick 27: The other semifinal had no dramatics, as the top-ranked Falcons raced out to a 33-1 lead in the first 10 minutes on the way to an easy win over the Panthers (18-7).

S-H held the Panthers without a field goal in the first 10:32 while forcing nine turnovers, and hit seven of its first nine shots to build the big lead.

Natalie Deking had 16 first-half points, including three 3-pointers, and Stacie Shields had 13 points and nine rebounds in the first half for S-H. Shields finished with 21 to lead all scorers.

“I think we are probably playing our best basketball right now,” said S-H head coach Ed Shields, taking his third straight team to the Spokane Arena. “We basically took it to Liberty in the Bi-County championship after only winning by five at their place, and then to do this to Cusick, which is a very good basketball team. The girls are jelling and they’re really focused.”

Cusick plays Liberty in a loser-out game at 6:45 Friday at Mead.

Davenport 51, Republic 45 (OT): Mariah and Mallory Mielke combined to score all seven of their points in overtime to lead the Gorillas (18-8) over the Tigers (10-16) in a loser-out game at Mead.

Davenport’s Stephanie Morrison had 13 points and eight rebounds. Sarah Knapton scored a game-high 18 for Republic.

Liberty 63, Reardan 58: Shawn Hennessey had five 3-pointers in the first half on the way to 25 points, and Cami Bullock had 17 as the Lancers (19-5) beat the Indians in a loser-out game at Mead.

Jen Christerson scored 17 for Reardan (11-15).

District 9 B

Brooke Hoon hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds left in overtime and Dayton hit all four of its free throws in the final 19 seconds to eliminate Tekoa-Oakesdale 58-53 at Washington State University. Hoon had five 3-pointers, 17 points and five steals for the Bulldogs (19-5), who will face DeSales (14-11) on Friday. Casey Smith led T-O (16-9) with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

District 7 2A

Medical Lake rallied and then hung on for a 44-42 home win over Riverside in a loser-out game. Caitlin Smith had 14 points and 11 boards, and Richelle Daily had 13 and 13 for fourth-seeded ML (13-8), which advances to play at top-seeded Lakeside on Saturday. Shae Spicer led the Rams (8-13) with 17 points.

Boys

District 9 B

Tekoa-Oakesdale led by 16 after three quarters, then weathered a late rally to beat DeSales 55-51 in a loser-out game at WSU. Alex Hovde led the Nighthawks (17-8) with 16 points and 12 rebounds and hit all four of his free throws in the final frame. Austin Cook added 15 for T-O, which advances to play Tri-Cities Prep on Friday for the last spot in the state tournament. … TCP (21-3) held Asotin (16-11) to 31 percent shooting from the field as the Jaguars won 60-46.