Two weeks ago, Zillah’s girls were a disappointed bunch after finishing three games off Granger’s pace in the SCAC West.

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Now, with four defensive lashings to their credit in the postseason, the Leopards are feeling no limits.

“I think we always felt we could play like this,” said senior guard Bayli Ziegler, “but I guess we just needed the confidence to put it all together. Now we’ve got that confidence.”

Fresh off their 3-0 run through the SCAC district tournament, the Leopards opened the Class 1A state tournament on Wednesday by cruising to a 45-27 victory over King’s in the SunDome.

In four postseason games, Zillah’s revved up defense has averaged 31 points a game and that includes wins over Granger and Connell — both winners on Wednesday.

“Defense is a constant emphasis, and before the game we repeated it — No. 1 priority defense, No. 2 boards,” said coach Mindy Winters. “Everybody is making that effort now. In each district game you could see the confidence growing and it’s nice to see we still have it.”

Winters credits her seniors for making this impressive run happen, a group that came away with first-round losses in each of the last two state tournaments.

“This has definitely been senior driven,” she said. “These girls are going right after it.”

Rosebud Guthrie and Ziegler were exactly that, a driving force. Guthrie’s 12 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks were complimented nicely by Ziegler’s 12 points, nine rebounds and four steals.

They set an energetic tone that help send the Leopards to the foul line 30 times. Attacking the basket from the get-go, Zillah’s quick-footed offense had King’s reaching and grabbing and paying the price for it. Ziegler connected on 7 of 11 foul shots, and Alisi Uasike made 5 of 5.

“That means we’re aggressive and that’s when we’re at our best,” Ziegler said. “I knew I had to drive in more to help keep us aggressive. I didn’t want to just look for outside shots.”

After popping out to an 8-1 lead, King’s made one rally that earned the Seattle squad a 12-11 in the opening moments of the second quarter. But it was over 12 minutes later — with 3:05 to go in the third period — when the Knights got their next basket.

Having held King’s to 27 points and 20-percent shooting to address Winters’ first priority, the Leopards also took care of the boards, 45-41. In addition to the 19 pulled down by Guthrie and Ziegler, Christina Slack collected seven and Uasike had six to go with her 11 points.

“We had great intensity, which is important the first day,” Ziegler said. “We didn’t talk about (losing the last two state openers) as a team, but it was in the back of my mind. I was thinking, it’s the first day, let’s go get ‘em.”

Zillah (20-4) will now focus its attention on top-ranked Seattle Christian (23-1) in Thursday’s final quarterfinal at 9 p.m.