Make it eight trips to the district semifinals in a row for the W.F. West Bearcats, who took care of business in a 70-33 win over Ridgefield in a 2A District 4 Quarterfinal at home on Friday.
“In districts, no one is gonna roll over,” W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski said. “Everything is amped up. No one is just gonna let you do what you want. That’s a quality win to start.”
W.F. West quickly took a double-digit lead after the first quarter thanks to 10 points from Julia Dalan, but the Spudders were able to keep pace offensively to hang around going into the break.
“They made us work and grind,” Karnofski said.
Even though the Bearcats didn’t build much on their lead in the second, it was clear that Ridgefield had no answers for Dalan inside.
Dalan, who is at least four inches taller than every Spudder, added 11 more points in the second. She entered the locker room with 21 points and three blocks and didn’t slow down in the second half.
“That’s probably one of her better games of the year,” Karnofski said. “She was aggressive tonight. She went at them, made some good moves in the post, and was a big-time presence.”
Karnofski, who hadn’t seen her final stats yet, was understating it. Dalan had one of the best games of her career, finishing with 30 points, 21 rebounds, and a whopping 11 blocks.
Dalan wasn’t the only one who helped W.F. West pulled away in the second half, as Dilyn Boeck scored 14 of her 19 points after halftime.
That included several highlight plays, including a spinning layup in the paint and a beautiful passing sequence between her and Kaitlyn Chloupek on a fastbreak that resulted in an open layup underneath.
“That’s highlight reel stuff,” Karnofski said. “The way Dilyn can do stuff, it’s next level … It gives us another person that can make plays.”
Boeck didn’t play much in the first half due to foul trouble, but Rhylee Beebe stepped right in. She scored six of her 10 points in the first two quarters, and she provided a defensive boost.
“Rhylee gave us a big boost,” Karnofski said. “That was big to have Rhylee come and help us there. Because those things happen. Foul trouble happens. Somebody’s gotta step up, and I thought Rhylee did a good job with that.”
To top it all off, W.F. West played one of its best defensive halves in the second half, allowing just 10 points, including just two in the final quarter.
With the win, the Bearcats (21-1) are now through to the district semifinals for the eighth year in a row (not counting the 2020-21 season, when there was no district tournament).
As the predetermined semifinal hosts, they’ll get the chance to punch their ticket back to the district title game and their ticket to the state tournament against Woodland, the GHSL’s No. 2 seed, on Monday.
“The goal is to make it to state,” Karnofski said. “There’s other goals that are there as well, but to do it at home would be pretty sweet. I hope our girls would get excited for that, and I hope we can use this second half to keep it rolling.”
