King’s coach Eric Rasmussen believes that the first four minutes after the halftime break are the most crucial to his team’s success.

Even though the Knights led by six points at the break in their quarterfinal matchup with Chelan, Rasmussen still wasn’t happy with the effort being shown.

“We’ve talked all year about coming out strong in the first four minutes of the second half,” Rasmussen said. “We also talked before the game about pounding the boards on both sides of the ball, and we weren’t doing that.”

Led by a huge 19-8 third quarter, including a 3:18 span where they outscored the Goats 12-2, King’s rallied for a 51-40 conquest at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

“Our defensive intensity picked up and we executed better during that stretch,” Rasmussen noted. “We started dominating the boards, and getting more opportunities.

The Knights grabbed 21 offensive rebounds in the game, including six by Danielle Clauson, and finished with a 43-33 rebounding advantage in the game.

Sara Mosiman led all scorers with 18 points on 8-of-17 shooting, and Clauson added 17 points and 13 rebounds.

In the first half, Chelan’s Cassy Pilkinton, who leads the Goats with a 17-points-per-game average, had scored the first five points of the game, and finished with eight at the break.

“We had Lauren Thompson on Pilkinton in the first half to contain her or slow her down, but it wasn’t working.”

So the Knights switched 5-foot-6 senior guard Caitlyn Faidley onto Pilkinton, who at 5-foot-11, had a five-inch advantage.

The height advantage didn’t seem to matter, but the switch did, as Faidley held Pilkinton to just two points on 1 of 9 shooting. She finished with 10 points to share team-high honors with Kaiti Harris.

Next up for the Knights is either Pullman or Naches Valley, while Chelan will face the loser of that game in a loser-out game at 12:30 p.m. Friday.

“We expect our two seniors to have the effort and intensity, and they did in the second half,” Rasmussen said. “They played like leaders, and I’m glad to see them being rewarded.”

The reward being hopefully a return trip to the championship game.

“But it doesn’t get any easier from here.”

King's -- Jack 0-0 0-2 0, Strand 3-8 2-4 8, Clauson 7-22 3-4 17, Trautmann 0-0 0-2 0, Faidley 3-11 1-3 8, Thompson 0-1 0-0 0, Mosiman 8-17 2-3 18. Totals 21-59 8-18 51.
Chelan -- Harris 5-9 0-0 10, Watson 1-2 0-0 2, Barth 0-3 2-2 2, Hanson 2-5 0-0 4, Pilkinton 3-15 3-5 10, Schramm 2-8 2-3 6, Love 3-3 0-0 6, Harter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-45 7-10 40.
King's	11	15	19	6	--	51
Chelan	11	9	8	12	--	40
3-point goals--K 1-7 (Faidley 1-6, Clauson 0-1), C 1-12 (Pilkinton 1-6, Watson 0-1, Schramm 0-2, Harris 0-3). Rebounds--K 43 (Clauson 13, Strand 8), C 33 (Hanson 11, Schramm 8). Assists--K 2, C 6 (Pilkinton 4). Steals--K 7 (Jack 2, Mosiman 2), C 9 (Harris 3). Blocked shots--K 2 (Clauson 2), C 0. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--K 14, C 13. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--K 14, C 22.