After watching top-ranked Colton romp to a jaw-dropping 40-3 halftime lead before they headed to their SunDome locker room to prepare for their opening-round Class 1B state tournament game Wednesday, the Sunnyside Christian Knights had something in mind:

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To make a statement of their own.

“We wanted to come out and make a statement, to show we could play with anybody here,” senior forward Melanie Van Wingerden said.

In some ways, the Knights did just that in their 54-16 drubbing of Mary M. Knight, racing out to a 16-2 lead and getting everybody in their 12-player roster significant playing time.

“It’s nice to come out and play how you’re capable of playing,” guard Abby Bangs said. “So when other teams see that, they see what you can do and they know they’re not just going to be able to come out and run all over you.”

So did Sunnyside Christian coach Al Smeenk consider his team’s performance the statement-making kind?

“Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t feel that way. We barely shot 30 percent (20-for-65 from the field). I’d hope ... well, we’ve got to play better and shoot better than that. We played hard, but I’d like for us to play better.”

Certainly, the Knights will have to play better to beat fifth-ranked Columbia (Hunters), which rallied from 10 points down in the final 10 minutes to upend 19-1 Neah Bay, 41-39. And that should help keep the No. 4 Knights (18-5) from looking ahead to a possible semifinal showdown with Colton.

“We have to get there first,” said Van Wingerden, whose 18-point, 17-rebound, three-steal performance paced Sunnyside Christian against Mary M. Knight. “Columbia, they’re going to be tough to beat.”

The Knights’ depth could work in their favor against Columbia (Hunters), which used only seven players in its overtime victory over Neah Bay. Sunnyside Christian had eight in the scoring column and has had a regular 11-player rotation all year.

“That’s one nice thing about our team is our depth,” Van Wingerden said. “We’ve got Julie (Long), she’s our energizer coming off the bench, and when you can bring in somebody like Joleen (Van Wingerden) off the bench, that’s really good. With our first few players off the bench, it’s not really a drop from the ones who start.”

Joleen Van Wingerden finished with 10 points and seven rebounds for the Knights, while guards Bangs and Erika den Hoed harassed the Owl ballhandlers into 18 turnovers to just nine for the sure-handed Knights. Two Owls, Teryssa Toppano and Fayrene Arrington, combined to score all 16 points for Mary Knight (10-13), which shot just 5-for-33 from the field.

And although there is still Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal between two ranked teams to get by, Sunnyside Christian is now one day, and one very important victory, from the game against Colton so many 1B basketball fans are clamoring for. Although Smeenk has brought 15 teams to the state tournament and reached the championship game twice, the Knights have yet to bring home that biggest trophy of all.

That’s something they would like to change — though, to do so, they would probably have to upend the No. 4, No. 1 and No. 2 teams back-to-back-to-back.

“I know you’re not supposed to look ahead past anybody,” den Hoed said. “But in a way, you always look ahead to who you’re going to playing. And if your goal is to win the state championship, you can’t NOT look ahead.”