The ball came off the rim and fell into the hands of both Sunnyside Christian’s 6-foot Andrea Schutt and feisty 5-7 Garfield-Palouse post Katie Redman. In one powerful move, Redman ripped the ball from Schutt’s grasp, went right up and banked the ball in.

That sequence, in a nutshell, was the difference between the two teams in Friday night’s late Class 1B girls semifinal, won 57-53 by Gar-Pal. The Vikings were stronger, more physical and, for most of the game, seemed to want it more.

Repeat: most of the game.

Over the last 5 1/2 minutes, the Knights — who had trailed by 14 points entering the final period — ran off a 14-2 burst to pull into a tie with 30 seconds remaining on a transition basket by Erika den Hoed on a pass from Melanie Van Wingerden. For Sunnyside Christian, the entire run was a demonstration of championship mettle.

“Tremendous desire,” said SC coach Al Smeenk on what fueled the comeback. “We have great leaders, especially the seniors. Give credit to them.”

And for the Vikings’ thoughts on that comeback?

“Scary,” blurted Redman, whose 10 third-quarter points had helped Gar-Pal build its seemingly insurmountable lead. “I don’t think I’m quite over that yet. It was scary.”

The Vikings (23-4) didn’t have a time out to figure out how to respond after SC tied the game at 53-53, but they had a championship answer of their own — one that put them into tonight’s 9 p.m. title game against Colton.

“When we get into situations when we’re short of time, we look to make a couple of quick passes and attack the basket,” Gar-Pal coach Steve Swinney said.

Point guard Bridget Bower got the attacking part right.
With Schutt having already fouled out and Emma Newhouse hamstrung with four fouls and unable to go for a block, Bower knifed into the lane. “I saw an opening, a little one,” she said. “It just needed to be done.”

She put the ball up and in off the glass with nine seconds remaining.

“I started screaming,” Redman said.

“I couldn’t breathe for a second,” Bower said.

And that turned out to be the game-winning basket. Van Wingerden, whose 17 points led the Knights, drove the lane in the closing seconds hoping to score a tying basket or draw a foul, instead was called for one — a charge. Game over. Julie Saunders’ two free throws with three seconds remaining were just window dressing.

The thrilling result was a far cry from last summer, when Gar-Pal had pounded the Knights by about 30 points.

“They thumped us tremendously over the summer,” Smeenk said. “They have a great team with some great athletes.”

Both teams do, and they all showed up to play. Schutt was a monster inside with 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks, and Newhouse had 11 points. Gar-Pal had Redman’s 15 points — two-thirds of them in the third quarter, when the Vikings pushed their lead up from four points to 14.

But Sunnyside Christian’s Achilles heel was at the foul line. While the Vikings were shooting an efficient 17-for-22, the Knights went 15-for-28.

“We work on free throws all the time in practice,” Smeenk said. “Some shot really good; others struggled today. That’s the way the ball game goes and you hate to lose.”

The Knights didn’t lose — they saw to that with that gutsy comeback.

This game wasn’t lost. It was won.

Gar-Pal simply took it away from them.