Amid the back-and-forth pace, the screaming fans and the often chaotic play Thursday, Zillah's girls needed a player or players to provide two key elements.

They needed someone to be fearless, to simply launch herself headlong into the fray. Contrastingly, they also needed someone to be relaxed, to be the calm in the center of the storm.

Enter Lacey Wentz and Rondelle Guthrie.

With Wentz providing desperately needed scoring by driving hard to the basket and Guthrie coming up with timely steals and layups, the Leopards surged into the Class 1A state tournament semifinals with a 49-45 conquest of Lake Roosevelt in the SunDome.

The victory not only advanced the eighth-ranked Leopards into to a 5:30 p.m. game today against Bellevue Christian, it improved their record to 18-8 while snapping the No. 6 Raiders' 18-game winning streak.

Plus, it provided the first installment of what will no doubt be a Zillabration in the dome, given the Leopards' boys presence in the semis, too.

"I can't even think right now," Zillah coach Mindi Winters said after her girls rallied from an eight-point second-half deficit. "We were aware of their speed and their style and we were just trying to control things.

"It was a great finish for us to be able to do that."

First, the Leopards had to get close enough. And Wentz and Guthrie, both 5-foot-8 seniors, initiated the comeback.

Down 34-28 late in the third quarter, Zillah got successive steals by Guthrie and layups by Wentz before yet another Wentz bucket made it 34-32 at period's end.

Lake Roosevelt sustained its lead into the middle of the fourth quarter, but a 16-foot jumper by Tefini Uasike followed by Guthrie's steal and layup put the Leopards up 44-41 with 3:23 to play.

Melissa Meza's inside hoop brought the Raiders to within 44-43 with 1:31 left, but Felicia Gonzales responded with a 3-pointer for a 47-43 Zillah advantage with 1:10 to go.

Gonzales then added two free throws in the final minute, and the Leopards hung on.

"Rondelle is definitely our best anticipator," Winters said in explanation of Guthrie's game-high six steals. "That's why we like to have her in the middle of our zone press."

But being in the middle of such a frenzied game can sometimes be overwhelming, can't it?

"I just finally relaxed and started to play basketball," Guthrie said. "I'd just gotten too caught up in everything, in the game and our slump. I had to ask some of my teammates to remind me to breathe."

Much of Zillah's breathing room, meanwhile, had been provided by Wentz. Jump shots weren't falling, as evidenced by the Leopards' 35 percent field goal shooting, so Wentz simply began driving goalward.

"Part of our plan was to attack their zone, to find the gaps," Winters said. "Lacey did that for us. She's absolutely fearless, and she was the kind of senior competitor you need in that situation."

Said Wentz, who backed Uasike's game-high 15 points with 11 — eight in the second half — "All of a sudden I saw an opening in their defense and went for it. Then it happened again and it worked again.

"The up and down style, that's not our kind of ball. We finally slowed it down, not to the point that it was a slump, but to a style that worked to our advantage."

Enough so that Zillah followed its 21 percent first-half shooting with 48 percent in the final two quarters.

Lachelle Ives scored 14 points to lead Lake Roosevelt (20-4) and Amanda Marchand added 11, but none of the Raiders could match the baseline-to-baseline productivity of Guthrie, who totaled nine points, a game-high 10 rebounds and two assists to go with her aforementioned steals.

"All I can say right now," Winters said, smiling, "is it's exciting to coach girls like this."

Zillah -- Wentz 5-10 1-2 11, Ziegler 0-0 0-0 0, Torrez 0-0 0-0 0, Affholter 0-6 2-2 2, Schilperoort 0-1 0-0 0, Ron. Guthrie 4-14 0-0 9, Uasike 6-11 3-7 15, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Gonzales 1-6 3-8 6, Ros. Guthrie 3-7 0-0 6. Totals 19-55 9-19 49.
Lake Roosevelt -- St. Pierre 0-4 4-6 4, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Circle 0-7 1-3 1, Marchand 3-8 3-8 11, Barnaby-Barry 0-2 0-0 0, Ives 5-12 2-4 14, Loe 4-7 1-4 9, Meza 3-4 0-3 6. Totals 15-44 11-28 45.
Zillah	13	6	13	17	--	49
Lake Roosevelt	11	11	12	11	--	45
3-point goals--Z 2-11 (Gonzales 1-2, Ron. Guthrie 1-6, Affholter 0-3), LR 4-17 (Marchand 2-4, Ives 2-7, St. Pierre 0-1, Barnaby-Barry 0-1, Circle 0-4). Rebounds--Z 41 (Ron. Guthrie 10, Ros. Guthrie 8), LR 39 (Meza 10, Marchand 8). Assists--Z 12 (Uasike 3), LR 9 (Marchand 4). Steals--Z 17 (Ron. Guthrie 6, Ros. Guthrie 4), LR 12 (Circle 3, Marchand 3). Blocked shots--Z 4 (Ros. Guthrie 3), LR 2. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--Z 19, LR 20. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--Z 21, LR 25.