State 3A girls: Mt. Spokane uses experience to pull away in quarterfinal win over West Seattle

Aspyn Adams scored 20 points with six 3-pointers, Emily Nelson added 15 and second-seeded Mt. Spokane handled ninth-seeded West Seattle 55-35 in a State 3A quarterfinal at the Tacoma Dome on Thursday.

The Wildcats (24-1) advance to face third-seeded Garfield in a semifinal on Friday at 5:30 p.m.

Mt. Spokane led 42-31 after three quarters and limited West Seattle to four points in the fourth to pull away.

Coach David Pratt said the nightly grind of Greater Spokane League play prepares his team for games on the state stage.

“It helps us a ton,” he said. “We have CV to deal with, LC to deal with. It’s a battle every night to play any of those teams. We play Mead in front of a giant crowd. All those things help us.”

The Wildcats have been to the state tourney three of the last four years.

“Our kids are experienced,” Pratt continued. “They’ve been on this stage before. Everyone on our bench has been out on that floor. Everyone has been through this process. They understand it and are passionate about getting through to the next level.”

West Seattle (19-6), the Metro League runner-up, reached the quarterfinals with a 50-45 win over eighth-seeded Arlington on Wednesday.

Mt. Spokane used a strong inside-outside game to hurdle their opponent.

“Inside game worked for us and Aspyn hit 3s,” Pratt said of what worked. “We took care of the ball. We were able to capitalize. We’re a little bit longer.”

Nelson, who joins the St. Martins women’s program in the fall, echoed her coach.

“We passed the ball really well,” she said. “When we went inside and they doubled down to be able to pass it out and have (Aspyn) shoot when she’s open. It worked out really, really well.”

Pratt said Nelson is somewhat of a secret weapon for him.

“She finishes really well around the basket,” he said. “People don’t pay attention to her, which is fine. She just does her thing. She clogs it up, she rebounds well. She does all the intangibles.”