Defense sends Colfax into semifinals
YAKIMA – Corey Baerlocher was indecisive.
Jordan Harazin was not.
Baerlocher, the young Colfax coach, was unsure of what defense to open with in the second half of Thursday’s State 1A girls basketball tournament quarterfinal game against White Swan.
Harazin, his precocious sophomore, knew.
“Let’s run Portland,” she said as the team came out to warm up trailing the Cougars by a point.
Baerlocher was sold and it made the difference for the Bulldogs as they advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time since 1999 with a 56-42 win at the SunDome.
Colfax will play White Pass tonight at 9 in its quest for a third straight state title.
Portland is the Bulldogs’ 2-3 zone defense, for them a relaxed defensive set in which the offense dictates how the defenders react.
The results were immediate and clear. The Bulldogs controlled the third-period scoring 15-8 and took a 39-33 lead into the final period.
The defense continued to work well as the Cougars were forced to settle for a succession of outside shots. They didn’t fall as they had early, and Colfax ran its state tourney win streak to 12. Colfax has a 20-2 record in the state tournament since 2001.
Bellevue Christian 47, Freeman 45: Freeman’s quest to return to the title game ended with a 31.1 percent shooting performance and a strong inside effort by BC center Melissa Reich.
The Scotties (20-4) hit just 19 of 61 shots from the field and Reich muscled her way to 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Freeman, considered a co-favorite by many entering the tournament, will play Lake Roosevelt today at 12:30 p.m. The Scotties need a win to stay in line for the fourth-place trophy.
After a sluggish third-period in which they ended trailing 38-27, the Scotties roared back in the final quarter, cutting the lead to two with 4 seconds left and forcing a 5-second violation under their basket to get the ball back. But they couldn’t convert.
The Scotties’ standout forward, Jessie DePell, had 15 points – a little off her average – but had to take 24 shots to get that total. Kelsey Raines had seven points and nine rebounds.
“I told the kids during timeouts, ‘You can’t get any closer to the basket,’ ” Freeman coach Matt Gregg said. “If you can’t throw it in, you can’t win.”
Zillah 49, Lake Roosevelt 45: The Leopards rallied to knock the Raiders into the consolation bracket behind 15 points from Tefini Uasike.
Lake Roosevelt can still finish as high as fourth, which would be the best in school history.
The Raiders (20-4) were led by Lachelle Ives 14 points and 11 from Amanda Marchand.