Determination met resiliency in the penultimate game of the Class 1A girls state basketball tournament Saturday night in the SunDome.

Zillah's never-quit Leopards staged a gritty comeback against a White Pass team eager to erase the memory of Friday's semifinal loss to Colfax.

Zillah's effort fell a little short, leaving the Panthers the 66-58 victors in the game for third and sixth place — and the Leopards feeling like winners.

"It's upsetting (we lost) but it's great to be a part of a team that never gives up," said senior Gentry Affholter. "Every team's goal is to make it to the final day. We won that first game and then the second and it was like, 'Oh, wow.' It's great to have come so far, especially since not many people had high expectations for us."

"The girls are fighters," said teary-eyed Zillah coach Mindi Winters. "They compete and work and don't give up. That's why I care so much about them.

"You're OK with it (the loss) because they do everything you ask and give it their all."

As for White Pass, coach Tom Kelly knew his team would perform just as the did Saturday — starting strong and then finding ways to preserve that lead.

"People asked me how I'd get them up (for Saturday's game). I said I don't have to," he said. "A lot of teams can't come back after a tough loss. This team has done that and done that over and over.

"That tells a lot about a team and their resiliency and that's the type of people this girls are — particularly the seniors."

Using that semifinal loss as motivation Saturday, White Pass jumped on Zillah early, and used a 14-0 burst spanning the first two quarters to build a 23-6 lead, eventually leading 37-20 at halftime.

"In a big game like this, you want to be aggressive right off the bat," Kelly said. "I knew we'd come out strong."

"We came off two tough games and just came out flat," Affholter said.

"We knew it'd be a running game but I felt like we were a little flat and they outhustled us at the beginning," Winters said.

Regrouping at halftime, Zillah ended up outplaying White Pass in the second half, outscoring the Panthers 38-29. Rondelle Guthrie, shutout in the first half, responded with 17 after the break.

"We knew what to do, we just had to calm down," Affholter said.

Playing with more poise and passion, Zillah chipped away at White Pass' advantage, eventually pulling within 55-50 on an Affholter basket with 2:59 to play. But White Pass answered with six straight, capped by Leanne Lamping's putback and foul for a three-point play with 1:06 left. Zillah got back within six with 39 seconds left, but the Panthers again had an answer as Kristen Andrew got free for a fastbreak layin.

Then Zillah's tough shooting night was capped by two errant field goal tries and four of six free throws missed in the final 20 seconds.

"We have excellent shooters and had good rotation, but sometimes that just happens," Affholter said of Zillah's 24 of 71 shooting (33.8 percent) in the game.

"I felt good about the shots we took. Sometimes, they don't fall," Winters said. "White Pass is a great team. They've done a good job all year."

Kendra Redmon led White Pass with 16 points, Andrew had 14 and Jaimye Ashley 13. Those three combined for 13 of the Panthers' 19 fourth-quarter points to help them hang on.

"They always find a way to pull it out," Kelley said. "They went out in style. They went out the way they should have."
 

Zillah -- Wentz 3-9 2-2 8, Marquis 0-0 0-0 0, Ziegler 2-4 0-0 4, Torrez 0-1 0-0 0, Affholter 3-11 0-2 6, Schilperoort 0-1 0-0 0, Ron. Guthrie 6-11 1-3 17, Uasike 4-12 1-3 9, Calhoun 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 2-3 0-0 4, Gonzales 2-6 1-2 6, Ros. Guthrie 2-13 0-0 4. Totals 24-71 5-12 58.
White Pass -- Riffe 2-4 2-4 6, Eastman 0-0 0-0 0, K. Redmon 5-12 4-7 16, Andrew 3-7 7-9 14, J. Mullins 0-1 0-0 0, Dotson 0-0 1-2 1, Lamping 3-8 1-1 7, Moody 2-7 5-6 9, Ashley 3-6 5-6 13, Gillispie 0-0 0-0 0, H. Mullins 0-0 0-2 0, M. Redmon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 25-37 66.
Zillah	6	14	14	24	--	58
White Pass	18	19	14	24	--	66
3-point goals--Z 5-18 (Ron. Guthrie 4-6, Gonzales 1-4, Uasike 0-1, Wentz 0-2, Affholter 0-5), WP 5-11 (Ashley 2-2, K. Redmon 2-5, Andrew 1-3, Moody 0-1). Rebounds--Z 46 (Ros. Guthrie 9, Uasike 7), WP 35 (Moody 10). Assists--Z 13 (Ron. Guthrie 4), WP 11 (Moody 4). Steals--Z 9 (Gonzales 2), WP 13 (Andrew 4). Blocked shots--Z 0, WP 1. Fouled out--Wentz, Lamping. Total fouls--Z 26, WP 19. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--Z 23, WP 21.