Zillah's Joelle Patterson, left, fights for a loose ball against Freeman's Claire Moberg during their first-round state game Wednesday.   SANDY SUMMERS/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

Scotties build big lead early, then hold off
upset-minded Zillah Leopards

YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Top-ranked teams aren't guaranteed cakewalks in the first round of high school basketball tournaments.

The Freeman girls basketball team, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 1A, found that out in a 50-37 win against Zillah on Wednesday in the SunDome.

Despite trailing 22-8 by the end of the first quarter, the Leopards (15-10) came together to pull within five points, 38-33, with 5 minutes remaining in the game. But the Scotties (21-2) regrouped behind tough defense to score the next four points and escape to the second round.

"I felt good and that we were going to win the game from the beginning," Zillah coach Tony Fritz said. "I didn't think we were going to lose the game until after the final buzzer blew. I told the girls after the game, 'That we didn't lose this game, we ran out of time.' They knew we had them on the ropes, but they're not ranked No. 1 for nothing."

It was the first-ever state-tournament victory for the Scotties, who were eliminated in two games in each of their previous two trips.

The Leopards showed the Scotties they were ready to play, jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the first two minutes of the first half. But after a free throw with 4:17 gave Zillah a 8-4 lead, the Scotties held the Leopards scoreless for the rest of the first quarter and went on a 18-point run.

"We just didn't play our game," Freeman coach Matt Gregg said. "I came into the game nervous, but once they got ahead 7-2 I said, 'OK, now we'll start playing the way we're supposed to play.' And we played good defense for the rest of the half, and the turnovers really helped spark our offense."

The Scotties' strong man-to-man defense and full-court pressure allowed the Leopards to take only 14 shots in the first half and forced Zillah into 17 turnovers, 14 on steals. Freeman got plenty of scoring from forward Jessie DePell, who finished with a game-high 15 points and scored 10 in the first half, to build a 27-15 by halftime.

The first half proved to be a baptism of fire to state tournament play for Zillah freshmen guards Joelle Patterson and Felicia Gonzales, who got more playing time with starters Gentry Affholter in foul trouble and Rondelle Guthrie battling a sinus infection and asthma attacks.

And even though the smothering Freeman offense wasn't giving them much room to breath and forcing them into turnovers, the young Leopard guards still felt they could pull off the upset after the rough first half.

"We just started to believe that we had a chance," said Gonzales, who finished with seven points. "We had gone into the game a little scared, but after halftime we realized they weren't that good and we made a run at them after that."

Gonzales scored six points in the third quarter to keep the Leopards in the game and trailing 36-23 going into the fourth. Guthrie, who finished with a team-high 9 points, then found her breath and her shots in the final quarter. She scored the first of three straight Zillah baskets to help spark a 10-2 run that pulled the Leopards within five, 38-33, with five minutes left in the game.

But Freeman, which shot only 29 percent from the field for the game, regrouped after a timeout to score the next two baskets and stretch the lead back to nine. From there the Scotties held Zillah to only four points in the last 4:11 to secure the victory.

"I think we just went so hard and pressured them so much that we ran out of gas," Zillah guard Rondelle Guthrie said. "We just couldn't keep going all out and hang in there."

The Leopards struggled to get rebounds to make Freeman pay for its cold-shooting. The Scotties outrebounded Zillah 49-34. Freeman guard Jennesa Miller led the effort and just missed a double-double with eight rebounds and eight points, and Scottie guard Melissa Baker scored 10 points before rolling her ankle right before the end of the game.

Gregg said he expects her to be healthy and ready for when the Scotties meet White Pass (19-5) in the second round at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the SunDome. Zillah will meet Charles Wright (18-5), which lost 69-33 to the Tarriers in the first round, as the Leopards try to battle out of the losers' bracket at 12:30 p.m.