Scates leads Cougars into first title contest

By PAUL SHUGAR
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

As soon as Chewelah basketball coach Kevin Mulligan got done talking to his girls, they ran back onto the SunDome floor.

They hadn’t forgotten anything after their 57-41 victory against defending state champion Chelan in the semifinals of the 2A state tournament Friday. The girls just couldn’t wait to talk about their big win with their local radio station and obviously all of them had something to say.

Chelan's Izzy Barth, left, gets called for a foul as Chewelah's Brooke Schanzenbach takes a shot during Friday's Class 2A girls semifinal game.   JEFF HALLER/Yakima Herald-Republic View all photos for this story.

“We just wanted this so bad after coming here last year and not placing,” said Chewelah center Sarah Scates, who scored a team-high 15 points. “We came into this year wanting so bad to do anything. Everybody on the team wanted it.”

The semifinal game was a rematch of a nonleague game the two teams played Dec. 18. The ninth-ranked Cougars came out on top of that contest as well, 42-35, using their superior speed to fluster the taller fifth-ranked Goats.

Chewelah forced Chelan to commit 16 turnovers, eight in each half, as the Cougars built a 33-24 lead at halftime. From there, poor shooting kept the Goats from getting back in the game. They finished 15 of 56 from the field (26.8 percent).

“I knew we had speed and that we had to capitalize on that and be in position on defense to give them some trouble,” Mulligan said.

Chelan got off to a strong start before the Chewelah defense settled down in the first quarter. Goat forward Erika Hanson scored two baskets and guard Kristin Schramm hit a 3-pointer to build a 9-3 lead with 4 minutes and 54 seconds remaining in the first.

But the defense started forcing turnovers and the Cougars went on a 12-4 run to take the lead, 15-13, at the end of the first quarter on forward Bryn Smith’s 3-pointer.

Chewelah guard Jochelle Schatz, who finished with 14 points in the game, helped build onto the lead with eight points in the second quarter. She hit one of two free throws 39 seconds before the half to give the Cougars a 10-point advantage, and they took a 33-24 lead into the locker room.

Both team’s offenses slowed down in the third, but Chewelah’s strong defense made up for its poor shooting. The Goats managed only two points the whole quarter to go into the fourth quarter down 41-26.

“You would have thought gravity would have just sucked a few of those in,” said Chelan coach Jeff Eller of his team’s poor shooting night. “We were getting the ball in the right hands, but we couldn’t get them to convert.”

Goat guard Cassy Pilkinton got her team back within 14 points with six of her team-high 14 points coming in the second half. But she fouled out of the contest with 4:38 remaining, and Scates scored eight points in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

The win guarantees that Chewelah’s first trophy in three entries to the state tournament will be either first or second. The Cougars will play No. 2-ranked King’s for the state championship at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“King’s has one of the best players in the state, so we’re going to have to play tough team defense,” Mulligan said. “We’re going to have to step up and play team defense to contain her. But I don’t know, Chelan has some talented players and we held them in check.”