After having experienced their first state-tournament loss in 34 SunDome appearances — four years of volleyball, four of basketball — the seniors on the Colfax girls team for the first time had tears that had nothing to do with joy on Thursday night.

How did they deal with their loss to Lynden Christian in Thursday night's game for the ages?

"In the locker room, it was really hard for us," said senior Jordan Harazin. "We sat there, we each gave each other space and let each other handle it the way we needed to handle it. Then we went out to the bus and talked for a long time, and then we spent the entire night as a team, just talking.

"We told each other how much we appreciated each other. And we all pulled together. We knew after all we've been through, we can't just go out of here with nothing."

The Bulldogs' coach, Corey Baerlocher, was still concerned about how his team would play in Friday's loser-out game and another angry, disappointed and talented team — Connell, which had been upset by Lakeside.

"I knew they were going to be down, upset and sad," he said. "I told them to play aggressive, play with a vengeance. And they did. I saw that, and it was, oh boy. Colfax basketball."

Big-time, too — a 63-36 drubbing and a berth in today's fourth-place game against Nooksack Valley.