"I'm still concerned," Colton coach Clark Vining said after watching his team rout Bickleton 76-18, with sophomore Haley Moser hitting five of the Wildcats' nine 3-pointers en route to 23 points.

"There are still some pretty good teams left. Columbia (Hunters) is a real solid team. Sunnyside Christian and ACH (Almira/Coulee-Hartline), they've got a pretty good shot of being in the finals, and both of those are solid.

"We've completed two steps to our goal, but we've still got a ways to go."

Fourth-ranked Columbia (Hunters) has had an only slightly tougher road to today's 6 p.m. semifinal date with Colton, having opened with a 31-point drilling of previously undefeated Neah Bay on Wednesday and followed that with a 72-32 trouncing of Wilson Creek. Lindsey Loe, a 6-foot-1 sophomore post, has averaged a double-double (16.5 points, 10.5 rebounds) in the tournament, and Casey Kieffer scored 13 in the Lions' quarterfinal victory.

The late semifinal pits No. 3 Almira/Coulee-Hartline, an all-underclassmen lineup that will almost certainly be the odds-on favorite to win it next year, against Pateros, which came out of a comparatively soft bottom quarter-bracket with victories over an 11-win Cusick team and a 42-28 quarterfinal victory over North Sound Christian, a program still looking for its first state-tourney trophy.

Lorrie Mattson and Jamie Bruno combined for 35 Pateros points on Thursday, with Mattson hitting half of her 16 field-goal attempts. But the Nannies were also guilty of 24 turnovers, 12 of those coming on North Sound steals, and ACH has quick-handed defenders. Today's semifinal will pose an entirely different level of challenge for Pateros.

"We'll have to play outstanding tomorrow, we know that," said Pateros coach John Ellis, knowing full well his team is the decided underdog of the semifinal quartet, the only unranked team in the bunch.

"They (the Warriors) are very skills, they shoot the ball very well and they play great defense. We're going to have to play 32 minutes of our best basketball, and we'll see what happens."