For one quarter Thursday night, the East Valley Red Devils were as good a team as the Class 2A girls basketball tournament has seen — this year or any other.

Basketball games, of course, last four quarters.

And teams that arrive at the SunDome with only one defeat, as Woodland did, will always play all four of them.

So the Devils had reason to be satisfied not only with their sensational start, a 19-2 first quarter, but also with the fact that they were still comfortably ahead at the finish. With their 46-33 quarterfinal victory over the Beavers, East Valley (25-0) moves into Friday’s late semifinal against Lynden Christian (23-2).

“We knew we needed to stay focused,” said sophomore guard Arianna Mohsenian, who led the Devils with 18 points (on 8-of-14 shooting) and seven rebounds. “Sometimes it’s hard (with a big early lead), but we knew this team would come back and take it to you, like they did — hitting 3’s, driving on us.”

In its first-round game against Lakeside, Woodland had rallied from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to win — a game the Devils watched from the stands.

“I don’t think we talked about it,” Mohsenian said, referring to that Beaver comeback, “but I know we had it in the back of our minds.”

Their first-quarter dominance came almost too easy for East Valley. Brittnee Lee lobbed an assist pass inside for the first two of Tana Stickney’s 16 points just 12 seconds into the game, made a steal 11 seconds later that led to a jumper by Mohsenian, who scored again a half-minute later. It was 6-0, and the Devils were only getting warmed up.

After Woodland’s Courtney Greenleaf banked in a 9-footer, East Valley reeled off 16 unanswered points for a 22-2 lead in the first minute of the second period.

“And they battled back,” Stickney said of the Beavers (23-2), who must now hope to come away with a fourth-place trophy. “It felt good to have that big lead, but you knew Woodland was not going to back down.”

The Beavers did not, outscoring East Valley 31-27 over the rest of the game behind Megan Peabody (9 points), Natile Trice (7) and Kyla Sorensen (7). But they never got closer than 11 points, and East Valley coach Robi Raab made sure everyone on his roster got significant playing time.

“You can’t just focus on one person or one part of their game,” Woodland coach Glen Flanagan said of the Red Devils. “Stickney can score inside on you, but if you start focusing on that, they’ll start burying 3’s on you.”

And, on Thursday, they looked like it came pretty easy.

“We played like we can for a while there,” Raab said. “Right now’s when you want to be playing well.

“It’s time.”

Woodland -- As. Kofstad 1-2 0-1 2, Hughes 0-0 0-0 0, Peabody 3-7 1-2 9, Al. Kofstad 1-1 0-0 2, Schang 1-6 0-2 2, Wilder 0-3 0-0 0, Hoggatt 0-0 0-0 0, Hurn 0-0 0-0 0, Koering 0-0 0-0 0, Greenleaf 2-8 0-0 4, Trice 3-5 1-2 7, Sorensen 3-6 1-1 7. Totals 14-38 3-8 33.
East Valley (Yakima) -- Alexieff 1-5 0-0 2, Mohsenian 8-14 0-0 18, Lee 1-5 1-3 3, Price 1-1 0-0 2, Valicoff 0-1 0-0 0, Jacobs 0-3 0-0 0, Huck 0-1 0-0 0, Huntington 2-8 0-0 5, Stickney 4-11 8-9 16, Dorsett 0-0 0-0 0, Reid 0-2 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-51 9-12 46.
Woodland	2	12	6	13	--	33
East Valley (Yakima)	19	7	10	10	--	46
3-point goals--W 2-8 (Peabody 2-3, Wilder 0-1, Schang 0-4), EV 3-10 (Mohsenian 2-2, Huntington 1-5, Alexieff 0-1, Lee 0-2). Rebounds--W 28 (Sorensen 5, Peabody 4), EV 37 (Stickney 7, Mohsenian 7). Assists--W 4, EV 9 (Huntington 3). Steals--W 2, EV 12 (Lee 4). Blocked shots--W 2, EV 2. Fouled out--None. Total fouls--W 14, EV 14. Technical fouls --None. Turnovers--W 15, EV 9.