[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- Brewster 59, Tonasket 38]

Brewster -- R. Crane 2-6 1-4 5, Cardenas 0-0 0-0 0, Freels 1-2 0-0 3, Youngers 0-1 0-0 0, Tostenrude 3-7 0-2 7, K. Crane 4-13 0-0 9, Boesel 10-17 3-7 27, Gamble 2-6 0-0 4, Viveros 0-1 0-0 0, Troop 2-3 0-0 4, Hauswirth 0-0 0-0 0, Heath 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 5-11 59.

Tonasket -- Hedlund 0-1 0-0 0, Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 2-7 0-0 5, Smith 2-11 0-1 4, Clarkson 3-10 1-2 8, Gorham 0-0 0-0 0, Freeman 3-8 0-0 7, Call 4-8 0-0 8, Stangland 1-3 4-8 6. Totals 15-48 5-11 38.

Brewster

Tonasket

3-point goals--B 6-20 (Boesel 3-7, Freels 1-2, Tostenrude 1-2, K. Crane 1-5, Gamble 0-1, Viveros 0-1, R. Crane 0-2), T 3-14 (Freeman 1-3, Jones 1-3, Clarkson 1-5, Smith 0-3). Rebounds--B 42 (K. Crane 12, Boesel 10), T 30 (Freeman 6, Call 6, Jones 6). Assists--B 12 (R. Crane 5, K. Crane 4), T 6 (Clarkson 3). Steals--B 7 (R. Crane 3), T 3 (Clarkson 3). Blocked shots--B 0, T 1. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--B 17, T 12. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--B 13, T 11.

By SCOTT SPRUILL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

What this was expected to boil down to was Brewster’s offense versus Tonasket’s defense.

After three previous meetings — the last two claimed by Tonasket — and a season full of analyzing each other, the strengths of these Caribou Trail League rivals was obvious.

What wasn’t so obvious was something you won’t find in a boxscore. Brewster had a band of seniors who had played together for over half their lives and desire was going to settle Saturday’s outcome in Class 1A girls championship final.

That desire came out in full force — on offense and defense — and the Bears jumped all over Tonasket for a 59-38 victory, the program’s third title in four years.

“It was all heart and desire,” said a beaming Jeni Boesel, the irrepressible scoring machine who would not be denied in her final game. “There’s so many emotions right now it’s hard to talk. These are teammates I’ve played with for 10 years and this was our last game. With all that going on, I knew we’d play a great game.”

Boesel, who was awarded her third state tournament MVP award with one of the nets draped around her neck, slapped an exclamation mark on a career full of them. Her 27-point spree put her final career tally at 2,727, third-best in state history.

She and classmate Rachel Crane, who had five assists, never missed a game in four years and started their 110th contest Saturday night with one thought in mind.

“This was the way it had to end, with us winning it all again,” Crane said. “My freshman year seems like a long time ago, and since then we’ve put so much into this. When we came to state this week for our last time, we were determined, very determined.”

The Bears, who appeared to be reeling after two postseason losses, including a 44-37 setback to Tonasket, fought through the toughest road possible in the state tournament. They defeated Coupeville (placed eighth), Colfax (fourth) in double overtime, King’s (third) and Tonasket (second).

“Once we beat Colfax in the quarterfinals I could see the twinkle was back in their eyes. Right then I knew we’d win the state title,” said Brewster coach Bryan Boesel, Jeni’s uncle. “We a tough draw but we liked it. We got tough and got back to our best level of play.”

With Jeni Boesel’s 10-for-17 performance leading the way, Brewster’s offense was clearly in high gear. But so, too, was its defense.

The Bears held Tonasket scoreless for a five-minute stretch that turned a 9-4 lead into a 23-4 margin and the rout was on.

That’s the thing — our kids can score but they can play defense too,” said Bryan Boesel. “We came out and shut King’s down and then shut Tonasket down. Those are two real good teams.”

Even with her stellar game, Boesel was not the whole deal for Brewster. Four different players buried 3-point baskets in the second quarter, and Kaylan Crane wrestled down a game-high 12 rebounds.

Tonasket perked up early in the second half and cut the deficit to a manageable 32-19. Junior Krissy Call, a first-team all-tournament pick, scored three straight baskets for the Tigers during the rally and there were several other chances to draw closer.

But the Bears tightened up once again and held the Tigers without a field goal for a span of nearly nine minutes.

“Our whole thing was be aggressive,” Crane said. “We knew they have a good defense and we’d loss to them a couple times, but this was for the state championship. This would be different.”

And on that score there was a wide disparity. Brewster’s five seniors had played in 16 state games — the maximum — while Tonasket was making the school’s first championship appearance for boys or girls.

“We’ve had some tough games against Tonasket and they got us twice, but we’ve been her before,” said Jeni Boesel, scanning her eyes over the championship crowd at the SunDome. “I didn’t us to be nervous at all even wanting it as bad as we did. We played as hard as we could and when we do that, when we aren’t worried about anything but winning, we’re at our best.”

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