The 2007 Class 1A state basketball tournament turned into a nightmare for Lynden Christian point guard Shannon Brandsma. This year, she's hoping it will end in the realization of a dream.

One year after Brandsma's state tourney ended on the first night when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament of her right knee, the junior guard scored eight first-half points to jump-start the No.1-ranked Lyncs in their 49-29 semifinal romp over Lakeside and into tonight's 9 p.m. championship game against Burbank.

"It's always been a dream of mine to cut down the net," Brandsma said after the Lyncs' dominating defensive performance, in which they held Lakeside scoreless for 11 minutes and 12 seconds of the second and third quarters during a 19-0 run and at one point led 33-9.

Best game of the year? Naaah.

"I think we can play better," Brandsma said. "Like the second half against Colfax (a 62-55 LC victory on Thursday) — when we're all hitting, all on the same page, knowing where everyone's going to be."

Lynden Christian (28-0) doesn't figure to have as easy a time tonight as it did against Lakeside. Burbank (23-3) split two regular-season games against Colfax and has won seven straight games.

Lyncs coach Curt De Haan, the quintessential "one game at a time" coach, hasn't even seen any of Burbank's games this tournament. He was planning on watching game video Friday night and this morning, and that would have to do. He remembers enough about how they play from last year's opening-round game — the game in which Brandsma was injured — a 61-49 Lyncs victory that was only a three-point game going into the final period.

"Last year it was an even game for about three quarters," De Haan said. "They have most of their players back, we have most of ours back. It should be a good matchup."

Well, not in terms of size. Nobody has a lineup as tall as the Lyncs.

"I know they're big, I know they're fast, I know they're good," Burbank coach John Muchlinski said of the Lyncs. "I know they've got some studs. What do they start — 5-8, 5-8, 5-9, 5-11, 5-11? And we start kids who are 5-1 and 5-2?

"Yeah, matchups will be an issue. But the girls are willing to make the sacrifice and go big if we have to."

But even though Lynden Christian is the heavy favorite in tonight's final, that doesn't mean the Coyotes will be bringing in a we've-got-nothing-to-lose mentality. The butterflies will still be present.

"They'll be there," said Burbank senior Ashley Winsor. "We're not going to come out thinking we're the underdogs. We're coming out trying to win.

"Like the Patriots and the Giants," she added with a little grin. "Very good ending."