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Published Saturday, March 6, 2004
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Watts
Sparks Colfax to Title Watts’ spot was just beyond the 3-point stripe on the right wing. Colfax’s was at center court — where the Bulldogs could stand in a celebratory circle, holding the state championship trophy aloft and pointing their index fingers to the sky. Watts’ three 3-pointers over a 2 1/2-minute span of the third quarter sparked what had been a slumbering Colfax offense, and the Bulldogs rolled to a 53-39 triumph over Lind-Ritzville in what has been the longest-running single-season series in state history. “They were packing it in a little bit on us, but when Kristin hit those shots, it just opened it up for the rest of us,” said Natalie Shaw, the Bulldogs’ powerful 6-foot center. Watts had missed four of her previous five shots, and Colfax had shot just 3-for-12 from behind the arc up to that point. But with the Bulldogs in front 24-18 in the second minute of the second half, guard Jenna Vuletich spotted Watts alone behind the 3-point stripe and whipped a pass to her. Watts put it up. Nothing but net. On the Bulldogs’ next possession, same thing: Watts for three. And 40 seconds later, she did it again. “That definitely was a big upbringing for us,” said Vuletich, who had two of her game-high six assists on passes to Watts during that string. “We didn’t really get scared or intimidated or anything like that before that, but after she hit those, we knew we could win it. “That’s the thing about this team. Every night, there’s a different person that steps up, and tonight Kristin did.” The Bulldogs (27-4) were their usual ferocious bunch, coming up with seven steals — three of them by Watts — and harassing the Broncos into 8-for-29 shooting. Lind-Ritzville (26-6) nearly made up for it at the foul line, where the Broncos were 22-for-30 to the Bulldogs’ 4-for-5. Lind-Ritzville’s Jessica Heidenreich got 13 of her game-high 20 points from the foul line, while shooting just 3-for-15 from the field. But Colfax made the most of its opportunities against a team it had played six previous times — enough that Vuletich said the teams “had pretty much just memorized each other.” Reserve Katie Burns hit buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the end of the first and second quarters, Shaw hit a couple of treys and Watts hit the ones that kick-started the Bulldogs to their victory. “When she hit those, they had to start opening it up inside,” Colfax coach Corey Baerlocher said. “Natalie was open inside and we weren’t seeing her and I took her out to tell her not to get frustrated, that we’d get the ball to her in there, and we started to do that.” “We’ve wanted it bad,” said Shaw, who was voted the tournament MVP after her 5-for-7, 12-point, seven-rebound performance. “All day, we were completely focused. We didn’t do anything except go over to our sponsor’s house. A lot of people were giving us pep talks all day. We had parents saying, ‘We don’t come here for no second place.’”
And they didn’t have to settle for it, either.
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