After watching his four-time defending state champion Colfax team escape Zillah in a 65-53 game that was closer than the score indicated — tied, in fact, with just over five minutes remaining — Bulldog coach Corey Baerlocher had one thing to say.

“Holy cow.”

Zillah's Joelle Patterson knocks the ball away from Colfax's Heidi Morgan during the second half of Wednesday's opening-round game. ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic

Spoken with the awe of one who had just seen that cow fly over the moon.

“I’ll tell you, that’s the game we expected,” he said. “That first quarter-and-a-half” — in which the Leopards fell behind 35-15 — “that was a bit of a surprise. But the rest of the game, that’s what I expected. It’s a different Zillah group out there than the past. They get 20 points down, before maybe that might have taken the heart out of the team, but not now.

“Zillah is a great team. I tell people they have every piece of the puzzle to be a state championship team.”

But, in the end, Colfax (22-4) already knows how to be that championship team, having owned that role for longer than the current Bulldog seniors have been in high school. And after Zillah rallied behind senior Felicia Gonzales (14 points) and junior Bayli Ziegler (13 points) to tie the game at 50-50, the Bulldogs’ experience took over. So did their stifling defense.

After Megan Teade’s driving layup put the Bulldogs back ahead, the next five Zillah possessions resulted in a blocked shot by Sadie Lazzarini, a turnover, a Teade steal, a blocked shot by Kayla Johnson and a steal by Johnson.

Colfax, meanwhile, scored every time it got the ball back — 11 points over a 1:50 span. And, just like that, the game was over.

“So fast. Too fast. Definitely too fast,” said Zillah coach Mindi Winters, whose 18-7 team will face Toledo at 12:30 p.m. Thursday in a consolation-bracket game. “We’ve always known they’re a great team. We go to their summer camp, and we know all their girls — they’re incredibly tough, very poised. A great basketball team. And great kids, too.”

But on this day, the Bulldogs’ competitiveness was matched by the Leopards. After Colfax built its 20-point lead with under 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half, the Leopards came scrapping back.

“That’s what we were talking about at halftime: Just because it’s Colfax doesn’t mean we can’t come back,” Zillah senior Joelle Patterson said. “It’s really hard to lose any game, but we took it to them in the second half. We played with a lot of heart, and it was good to see.”

What the Leopards did was drive, again and again, usually with Ziegler or Gonzales at the wheel. They ran off 14 unanswered points over the last 1:25 of the first half and the first 5 1/2 minutes of the third period.

“That was shocking,” said Johnson, who led Colfax with 21 points, nearly three times her season scoring average of 7.7. “They just started driving on us, taking it to the hole. Maybe we started letting back a little, and we’re not going to be able to do that tomorrow.”

Ah, yes. Johnson was referring to Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. semifinal showdown against top-ranked Lynden Christian. Any letdown against the unbeaten Lyncs, the only team this year to beat the No.1-ranked team in 2A (Anacortes), could undo the Bulldogs.

Added Johnson with a nod, “We’re going to have to get after it.”

Just like the Zillah Leopards did on Wednesday.