As if shot from a circus cannon, Granger's girls flew high and fast when they first appeared as a blur Friday night in the SunDome. But somehow at such speed, the Spartans managed to be precise, focused and -- there's no other word for it -- perfect.

View all photos for this story.

Not really good, not ideal.

Perfect.

For the first five minutes of their Class 1A state semifinal against Connell, the Spartans scored on their first eight possessions, denied nine shots on defense, committed no fouls and forced Connell to take three timeouts.

When Granger finally did one thing less than flawless, it was 17-0 and the question was essentially settled in that blinding flash -- these girls would indeed get another shot at the state championship that so narrowly eluded them a year ago.

Not easing up much from the blistering start, Granger bombed in nine 3-pointers -- one shy of the tournament record -- and shot 58.1 percent in its crunching 64-35 victory over Connell, which opened the bracket with an upset of top-ranked and defending champion Seattle Christian.

Senior Italia Mengarelli, beset much of the season with a back injury, was in a pure shooters' zone in the first half, swishing the first of four 3-pointers to start the 17-0 blitz. She finished with a season-high 20 points and connected on 8 of 11 shots.

"This being the semifinals, to shoot that well felt amazing," said Mengarelli, who didn't even shoot a trey in Thursday's quarterfinal win. "I don't rush things, but that first shot was open so I took it. This couldn't have worked out better -- this feels like our second home."

Shell-shocked Connell briefly recovered, scoring 10 points in little over a minute with a trio of 3-pointers. But Granger hit the Eagles hard again in the second quarter, an 11-0 burst leading to a 39-15 lead at the break.

"We felt Connell was tired from the two great games they played already, so we said, 'Let's go get them right off the bat,'" said Granger coach Andy Affholter. "You could tell they were exhausted. We didn't have a hand in our face like two weeks ago."

Hoping for a fast start, Granger couldn't have had a better one. With Mengarelli's spark, the Spartans' shooting numbers in the first half were astounding -- 15 of 22 for 68.2 percent.

"Our intensity was there," Mengarelli said. "We wanted to wear them out so we went straight at it. That's us. That's Granger basketball."

And there was no relenting.

Mengarelli handed the shooters' baton to Fantasia Reyes in the second half and she canned three of her four treys in the final 3:56 of the third period. Reyes, who finished with 14 points, has made 11 3-pointers in three games.

Showing its depth of shooters, Granger's 9-for-15 performance from long distance included none from Janae Klarich, who tied a tournament record with seven 3-pointers in last year's semifinal win over Connell.

This time, Klarich was content to pave the way for others with eight assists.

"Give them credit, they're a tremendous team and they got a great start," said Connell coach Dan Colby. "We had trouble covering their shooters and couldn't chip away at that lead. Maybe we were a little tired, possibly, but no excuses. Granger played a great game."

While Mengarelli and Sam Zapien combined for the first 11 points, all five of Granger's starters scored in the 17-0 opening run. Ashlee Reddout and Zapien both finished with 10 points to give their team four players in double figures.

Connell, which followed its big upset over Seattle Christian with a quarterfinal win over Okanogan, tried desperately to boost its offense with 3-pointers and did so fairly well, connecting on eight. But there was no other offense to support it -- through three quarters the Eagles had only one 2-point basket.

"Connell was as hot as can be, but those two games took a toll and we were able to take advantage," Affholter said. "We got out and ran and got into a good flow. You could tell these girls were hungry."

Granger (24-1), which fell to Seattle Christian in overtime of last year's finale, will play Freeman (25-1) in Saturday's championship game at 9 p.m.