State 2B girls: St. George’s uses second-quarter surge to top Ilwaco, advance to quarterfinals

Two years ago, a round further into the State 2B tournament, St. George’s had a halftime lead against Ilwaco, only to lose in overtime.

So when the Dragons again had an edge over the Fishermen at halftime Wednesday night at the Spokane Arena, senior Abby Jones said the comparison crossed her mind.

“Yeah, it did. I definitely thought about that,” Jones said, “and it wasn’t going to happen again.”

Jones scored 16 points, junior Lydia Bergquist added 20 points and nine rebounds, and the 12th-seeded Dragons used a 19-0 run to charge past the fourth-seeded Fishermen and into the quarterfinals with a 59-41 victory.

Trailing 15-7 early, the Dragons held the Fishermen (21-4) to one point in the second quarter on 0-for-14 shooting to take a 26-16 halftime lead.

The 5-foot-10 Bergquist spearheaded the run and rolled it into a dominant third quarter.

“I wasn’t playing well in the first quarter, and I knew I needed to start attacking,” she said.

Sophomore Cambrie Rickard added 16 points for the Dragons, who matched a season high with 59 points.

Dragons junior guard Grace Harril helped hold Ilwaco leading scorer Erika Glenn to 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting.

“Defensively, we always have her keying on their best player,” Dragons coach Cliff Berdar said. “We knew if (Glenn got) going, we could be in trouble.”

The Dragons (17-9) continued their late-season surge with their 10th victory in 11 games. That includes wins over Davenport and Liberty, which face each other at the top of the bracket at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

“It took us a while to find ourselves, but once we decided that we were better as a group, it really turned this season around for us,” Berdar said.

He pointed to the one loss in that streak – 62-50 at Davenport in late January – as the turning point.

“They blew us out, and the girls were mad,” Berdar said.

St. George’s advanced to meet No. 3-seed La Conner at 7:15 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Liberty 56, Willapa Valley 26: Maisie Burnham scored 20 points with 11 rebounds and the sixth-seeded Lancers (21-4) eliminated the 11th-seeded Vikings (19-6). Delaney Goodwin added 11 points and 10 rebounds for Liberty.

South Bend 49, Auburn Adventist 29: Karley Reidinger had 15 points with 12 rebounds and the 15th-seeded Indians (17-9) eliminated the seventh-seeded Falcons (20-3).

Brewster 53, Rainier 58: Sammi Emigh scored 17 points and the ninth-seeded Bears (19-4) eliminated the eighth-seeded Mountaineers (21-4). Kaeley Schultz led Rainer with 30 points.