Class 2B State Girls Basketball: Adna collapses late, drop state title heartbreaker to NW Christian

SPOKANE — They wore the armor for volleyball. As the No. 1 seed in the Class 2B state tournament, Adna rolled its way to the state finals.

It was much the same for girls basketball. The Pirates weren’t the top seed inside Spokane Arena, but they ran through the C2BL with an unblemished record. They got to the finals with the same cast of characters from volleyball.

That armor was sturdy up until the final contest. Cracks developed as the affair played out.

Until it all broke.

Up seven with 90 seconds to go, an 8-0 spree by eighth-seeded Northwest Christian gave it the lead. Despite a go-ahead triple from Adna’s Karsyn Freeman with 14 seconds remaining in regulation, the Crusaders forced OT and dominated the extra four minutes en route to a 73-66 triumph over the second-seeded Pirates to claim the state title on Saturday night inside Spokane Arena.

“A lot of time and effort was put into that sucker and they had it,” Adna head coach Chris Bannish said. “You could feel it, it was there.”

The locker room scene was unlike anything Bannish or his stable of assistants have ever been a part of. One by one, the players walked out still in tears over what transpired in the final five-and-a-half minutes.

Gaby Guard’s 3-pointer put Adna up 57-50. NW Christian’s Macey Shamblin went coast-to-coast for the layup, then everything broke loose.

Two straight turnovers by the Pirates led to back-to-back Julianna Pope buckets and the lead was cut to one. On the third turnover, Kaitlyn Waters sank two free throws to cap the run.

“We needed to slow down a little bit and that’s something we've gotten better at,” Freeman said. “That’s something we could have fixed.”

Freeman delivered the biggest basket, the final of her 27 points, a trifecta that put the Pirates up 60-58. In the huddle, Bannish thought about going zone on the ensuing defensive possession.

He decided against it. And Waters made a floater to knot the contest up at 60-all. Freeman’s heave from three-quarters court was off.

In the blink of an eye, the Pirates went from potentially celebrating a state title to playing an extra frame.

“We’ll wall up, we’ll be tough, stay out on the shooters and stay out front,” Bannish said. “We needed to finish it right there.”

NW Christian went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the extra stanza. Freeman, McKenna Torrey and Danika Hallom all fouled out. By the time the clock hit under 30 seconds, reality began to sink in for Adna.

It wouldn’t be a storybook ending.

“It definitely sucks, but at the same time, second place is not bad at all,” Freeman said. “You think about it, this is the best we’ve ever done.”

The primary stat that ended up giving the Crusaders the win was a 44-32 advantage on the glass and 21 offensive rebounds. Waters, Shamblin and Pope were responsible for all of the offensive boards.

It was one of the factors that aided them on their run to the state championship, one that began and ended with knocking off the top-two teams in the C2BL.

“If we rebound right with them, we’re going to win this game and we still damn near won it losing by 16,” Bannish said.

Adna (24-3) found itself in a similar spot at the beginning like it did in the semis a night ago, down 9-0. It trimmed and trimmed into the margin, getting as close as three in the second quarter three different times.

After the media timeout, a 10-0 flurry that featured five of Torrey’s 12 points – including a layup that gave the Pirates their first lead at 30-28 with 49 seconds left.

The sophomore, in her second career state title game, also grabbed team-high 10 rebounds.

“I did feel like we had the momentum on our side,” Torrey said.

Guard put Adna up 44-42 after three and Freeman drilled two 3s in the fourth that put it up seven and eight points, respectively. It just couldn’t close the deal. Guard posted 12 points and Kendall Humphrey notched 10.

For the core four seniors of Freeman, Guard, Humphrey and Hallom, it marked the last time the quartet played a team sport together.

While the journey didn’t have the ideal ending, Freeman isn’t one to dwell on the negatives.

“It is still crazy that we finished second,” Freeman said.