The Ellensburg girls
basketball team added to its past Saturday afternoon while getting an
eyeful of the future.
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punch of juniors Brandi Thomas and Katie Colard — the co-MVPs of the
Evergreen Conference — Elma bettered its sixth-place finish of year ago
by beating the Bulldogs 52-46 four fourth place at the Class 2A state
tournament in the SunDome.
The Eagles look poised
for a run at the title next year with Colard, who earned all-tournament
first-team honors, Thomas and 6-foot-1 freshman Carly Meister back.
“They are more
athletic than most of the teams here,” Ellensburg coach Craig Faire
said. “They were one of the team I expected, maybe not to win it all,
but win some games. And they’re young.”
The Bulldogs, playing
in the trophy round for the fourth straight year in their seventh
consecutive trip to state, finished seventh.
That Ellensburg was
back in the medal round this season was somewhat surprising. Four
starters from last year’s Class 2A state runner-up, accounting for
nearly 60 percent of the Bulldogs’ scoring and including the two-time 2A
player of the year Kayla Standish, were gone.
“This bunch had to
gain its own identity, and they kept the tradition alive,” Faire said.
“You couldn’t ask for more ... Yeah, you could ask for more made layins
and more block outs.”
Those missed layups
and the Eagles’ 46-26 rebounding edge proved the undoing of the Bulldogs
in a game in which Ellensburg never led and the only tied scores were
0-0 and 2-2.
“We were getting good
looks (at shots),” Faire said.
But they weren’t
falling. Ellensburg shot just 24 percent in the first half, and
converted Elma’s 10 turnovers (including eight Bulldog steals) into just
five points.
The Eagles (19-6)
raced to a 16-4 lead in the first quarter with Colard and Thomas
accounting for all but two of the points. Elma maintained a safe
distance and took a 26-19 lead into the intermission.
Keyed by their
frenzied defense, Ellensburg (18-10) made a push to start the third
quarter and trimmed the deficit to three, 26-23, when senior Casey
Kelleher took one of her five steals in for layin.
“We knew if we kept
hustling we were going to get back in it,” Faire said.
However, Elma went on
8-2 and 9-2 runs to build a 43-27 lead and withstood Ellensburg’s
pressure.
“They answered
(Ellensburg’s) run, they’ve done that all year,” Elma coach Lisa Johnson
said.
Colard, who finished
with 17 points, set the single-tournament record for 3-pointers with 16.
Last year she tied the previous record of 13 set by Newport’s Carey
Sauer in 1999.
Thomas also had 17
points and added 16 rebounds and blocked three shots.
Kelleher finished her
prep career with a team-high 15 points on solid 6-of-11 shooting. Junior
Deaira Gordon had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Andrea Bland added 11
points for the Bulldogs, and had the team’s only made 3-pointer.
Ellensburg finished 1-for-17 from behind the arc.
|
Ellensburg -- S. Bland 1-4 0-0 2, Kelly 0-5 0-0 0, Gordon 4-16 2-3
10, Prigge 1-5 1-2 3, Demory 1-6 0-1 2, A. Bland 5-9 0-0 11,
Kelleher 6-11 3-5 15, Carlson 1-2 1-2 3, Quirk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals
19-58 7-13 46. |
|
Elma -- DeMar 0-0 0-0 0, Wheeldon 0-1 0-0 0, Hargadon 1-3 0-0 2,
Thomas 6-13 5-6 17, Blanchard 3-7 2-2 8, Colard 5-16 4-6 17, Flowers
0-0 0-0 0, Meister 2-8 4-6 8. Totals 17-48 15-20 52. |
| Ellensburg |
6 |
13 |
8 |
19 |
-- |
46 |
| Elma |
16 |
10 |
13 |
13 |
-- |
52 |
3-point goals--Ell 1-17 (Bland 1-3, S. Bland 0-1, Kelleher 0-1,
Prigge 0-2, Kelly 0-3, Gordon 0-3, Demory 0-4), Elm 3-11 (Colard
3-11). Rebounds
--Ell 27 (Gordon 10), Elm 46 (Thomas 16). Assists--Ell 9 (Kelleher
3), Elm 3 (Thomas 2). Steals--Ell 13 (Kelleher 5), Elm 4 (Thomas 2). Blocked shots--Ell
3 (Demory 2), Elm 4 (Thomas 3). Fouled out--S. Bland.
Total fouls--Ell 19, Elm 14. Technical fouls--None. Turnovers--Ell
10, Elm 20. |
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