[ t o u r n e y t o w n . c o m -- 2007 Class 1B state tournament ]

Sunnyside Christian -- Bangs 0-0 0-0 0, E. den Hoed 0-2 0-0 0, Long 0-0 0-0 0, Roberts 5-9 3-4 13, T. Van Wingerden 2-10 3-7 7, B. den Hoed 5-10 3-5 13, Bosma 3-5 0-2 8, J. Van Wingerden 1-1 0-0 2, M. Van Wingerden 4-12 4-4 12, Schutt 2-5 1-4 5, Newhouse 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-55 14-26 60.

Colton -- Smetana 0-1 0-0 0, Nygreen 4-9 0-0 10, S. Druffel 6-15 0-1 12, Moehrle 4-17 3-6 13, Meyer 0-0 0-2 0, R. Druffel 1-13 0-2 3, C. Druffel 0-3 0-2 0, K. Druffel 0-0 0-0 0, Hoyle 0-1 1-2 1, Riedner 0-0 0-0 0, Spence 1-1 0-0 2, Becker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-60 4-15 41.

Sunnyside Christian

Colton

3-point goals--SC 2-6 (Bosma 2-3, Roberts 0-1, T. Van Wingerden 0-2), C 5-23 (Nygreen 2-5, Moehrle 2-7, R. Druffel 1-9, Hoyle 0-1, Smetana 0-1). Rebounds--SC 47 (B. den Hoed 10, M. Van Wingerden 9), C 46 (Moehrle 9, S. Druffel 7, R. Druffel 7). Assists--SC 4 (T. Van Wingerden 2), C 10 (Nygreen 3, C. Druffel 3). Steals--SC 10 (Schutt 3), C 7 (S. Druffel 3). Blocked shots--SC 1, C 2. Fouled out--Nygreen. Total fouls--SC 15, C 18. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--SC 13, C 14.

Each time Sunnyside Christian’s girls show a hint of vulnerability, it turns out to be a ruse.

Try to expose a weakness and all you’ll find is another strength.

The Knights have confronted major injuries, survived a huge first-round scare and overcome a rocky first half in the quarterfinals of the Class 1B state basketball tournament.

And yet tonight they play for the championship with all the momentum a team could want.

Sunnyside Christian took care of Friday’s business with its most dominant effort of the week, dismissing Colton 60-41 with another lock-down defensive performance in the semifinals.

“We’ve had to overcome some things, but everybody helps and everybody know how,” said senior Jacqui Roberts, who matched Brittany den Hoed’s team-high 13 points. “In each game here we’ve been getting more and more confident and hopefully that keeps going.”

The fourth-ranked Knights (22-3), whose margin of victory has grown significantly each day here, will meet No. 2 Sprague-Harrington (24-4) in the championship final Saturday at 7.

Coach Al Smeenk’s crew came to the SunDome already thinned by the loss of starter Emma Newhouse to a knee injury. The Knights, admittedly tentative to start, escaped with a two-point victory on opening day and faced a nine-point deficit at halftime on Thursday.

But the Knights always had an answer. Same thing on Friday.

Upstart Colton, making the school’s first state appearance, tried to cool off Tori Van Wingerden, who broke loose for 30 points on Thursday, and the Wildcats succeeded. SC’s top scorer had seven points.

But instead of hoping one player would step in to fill the void, three did. Roberts, den Hoed and Melanie Van Wingerden, whose collective season average was just over 20 points, pitched in 38 points to go with 24 rebounds.

“After yesterday we were wondering if we’d see a box-and-1 on Tori,” Smeenk said. “But the thing is, with this team, if you close one player out we’ve got others who can score. They won’t hesitate.”

Once they held Colton scoreless for all but the last 56 seconds of the second quarter, the Knights were on cruise control. Until, that is, another encounter with adversity forced them to respond again.

Just as Colton was able to piece together a run to slice a 17-point deficit to nine early in the fourth quarter, the Knights’ 6-foot post Andrea Schutt went down with a high sprain of her right ankle.
So there goes another starter out of the lineup with an injury.

But there go the Knights.

Leading 47-38 with 4:40 left and Schutt on the bench icing her ankle, Sunnyside Christian closed the game with a convincing 13-3 rush.

“They had some 3-point shooters and we gave up a few shots that made it closer,” Roberts said of Colton’s rally attempt. “The thing we need to remember is to focus on playing hard all the time. Play as hard as possible all the time — that’s our game.”

No where is that more evident than on defense. None of Sunnyside Christian’s three state victims has managed to shoot better than 29 percent from the field.

Impressed with the effectiveness of a zone against Inchelium’s long-range shooters on Thursday, a move in the second half that basically saved the day, Smeenk kept the zone in place Friday and stayed away from his more typical man-to-man alignment.

“We’re usually quicker or as quick as anybody we play during the season,” the coach said. “But at state everybody’s quick and we’ve had to change things a little to get a better match-up. We’ve still been able to do a good job defending the perimeter.”

Inchelium and Colton did manage to make a dozen 3-pointers against the Knights, but they needed 47 attempts to get those 12 treys.

“I think we stuck to the basics on defense,” den Hoed said. “We knew they were going to shoot a lot of 3-pointers and we came out and adjusted to it.”

Added Roberts, “We were everywhere on defense today. We were in their faces and making them work for shots.”

If Smeenk liked his team’s defensive effort he loved the rebounding. Quick to position and aggressive in the low block, the Knights collected 47 boards with five players getting at least five.

“That’s heart and desire,” the coach said. “Maybe it’s the Dutch blood. Our girls are tough and they go after it.”

And Saturday night they go after a state championship — the program’s second chance. Smeenk’s 1996 squad was runner-up in the Class B tournament in Spokane.

“I remember all of us talking before the season about our goals,” Roberts recalled. “The first thing I said was a state championship. We’ve come so far since then and now we have our chance.”