Girls 1B: Colton returns to title game after missing out last season

A familiar team is back in the State 1B girls championship game.

The Colton Wildcats held off the Sunnyside Christian Knights 53-48 to return to the title game after missing it last year for the first time in nine years.

“I feel so great,” Colton coach Clark Vining said. “I’m just happy for these players. They’ve put in a lot of work to get back after last year.

The Wildcats will meet the Pomeroy Pirates in the title game. Pomeroy was a 44-29 winner over Neah Bay in the other semifinal.

The championship game matches the two top-ranked teams according to the state’s RPI. The No. 1 Wildcats and No. 2 Pirates meet Saturday night at 9.

The Southeast 1B rivals have met three times this season, all Colton wins. The closest game was on Jan. 19 (49-48).

Colton 53, Sunnyside Christian 48: The Wildcats held off a late Knights fourth-quarter charge and survived to return to the championship game after a year away.

Dakota Patchen made four free throws with the game winding down to seal the victory. The Knights outscored Colton 14-6 in the fourth quarter to nearly grab the upset.

Sunnyside Christian’s Emily Banks sat much of the third quarter with foul trouble, allowing Colton to extend its lead to 47-34 after three quarters. When Banks came back in the fourth quarter, she was instrumental in helping the Knights claw back.

“We made some hay when (Banks) was out,” Vining said. “She came back in and I thought maybe we got a little tentative. We weren’t attacking like we were in the third quarter. But I thought we did a great job down the stretch of managing the clock.”

Patchen led Colton with 23 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including four 3-pointers. Emily Schultheis had 11 points and 10 rebounds for Colton.

The Knights had three players in double figures, with Alyssa Martin leading the way with 17. Banks finished with 12 points and Sailor Liefke had 11.

Colton made five 3-pointers, a solid amount but not the 15 it made the night before. The plan wasn’t to shoot the lights out from beyond the arc, though.

“Our plan was to go inside a little more tonight,” Vining said. “I thought we were pretty effective.”

Patchen also found herself in foul trouble. She picked up her third foul with 3:18 left in the third quarter and didn’t come out until there was 1:25 left, and she was only out briefly.

She picked up her fourth foul with 5:54 left in the game right when the Knights were threatening. She only sat for a minute and returned with 4:39 to play.

“(Patchen has) played a lot of basketball and she’s a real intelligent player,” Vining said. “I trust her and we’ve been in this situation before where she’s got fouls and I’ve left her in. I just felt like we could make a run with her in.”

The Knights opened the fourth quarter with two quick baskets and used an 8-0 run to cut Colton’s lead to 49-46. A Wildcats turnover with 57 seconds left gave the Knights the ball, but Colton got a big defensive stop and Patchen’s free throws sealed the victory.

Pomeroy 44, Neah Bay 29: The Pirates opened up a big 21-6 halftime lead over the Red Devils and didn’t allow another Neah Bay basket until Lalia Greene hit a 3-pointer with 3:54 left in the third quarter.

Pomeroy used its 1-2 punch of freshman Emma Severs and sophomore Maddy Dixon to score from the perimeter and inside.

Dixon did her damage mostly from the paint. She had 16 points to lead Pomeroy. Severs ran the point and finished with 14 points. Sydney Smith had 13.

The Red Devils got within nine points in the fourth quarter after a pair of 3-pointers by Courtney Swan and Gina McCaulley. Smith followed that up with a 3-pointer to stop any Neah Bay threat.