Connell crashes semis

By SCOTT SANDSBERRY
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

After reaching the 2009 Class 1A girls state basketball semifinals and finishing in sixth place, Connell coach Dan Colby watched five seniors graduate -- including four starters who provided the vast majority of his team's scoring punch -- and gave little thought to the possibility of a similar run this season.

It just didn't seem possible. Not to Colby. Not to his competitors in the SCAC, including Granger coach Andy Affholter, whose team has reached the 1A semifinals for the third straight year.

Facing the Spartans, though, is that very Connell team nobody expected to see back.

"If you'd have told me at the beginning of the season he'd have them here in the semis," Affholter said, shaking his head and not finishing the thought. "He's done a great job."

"We had basically a brand new team this year, and it took us a while to get it together," Colby said after his Eagles overcame a 15-1 first-quarter deficit -- a hole that ultimately got as deep as 16 points -- and rallied for a 44-40 quarterfinal upset over Okanogan. "But they've worked their butts off, I can tell you that."

Certainly the Eagles needed to work hard to earn their semifinal berth, considering that they opened Wednesday against top-ranked defending champion Seattle Christian, and then had to come right back to face the No. 5 Bulldogs, which had lost just twice all season.

But that daunting quarterbracket didn't faze Colby or his players.

"Because we've come such a long way," Colby said, "it didn't really bother me. Because, hey, initially just the thought of even being here was a remote one."

A layup by Sarah McGary started the Eagles back from their 19-3 second-quarter deficit, with Maci Whitby five of her team-high 15 points during an 11-2 Connell run.

The 8 p.m. semifinal will pit No. 2 Lynden Christian (23-3), the 1A ranks' winning program with nine championships (the last coming in 2008), against third-ranked Freeman (24-1). Lynden Christian has had little trouble in its first two games, trouncing Rainier by 23 and then racing out to an 11-point first-quarter lead Thursday on its way to a 44-28 quarterfinal win over Chelan.

Freeman, whose only loss this year came to Lakeside -- a defeat later avenged in two later victories -- have also been on cruise mode in the SunDome, routing Zillah 57-28 in the first round and, in Thursday's quarterfinal, rolling over Onalaska 60-37 behind the combined 29 points of MacKenzie Taylor and Megan McIntyre.