SPOKANE — For the first time in nearly three months, the No. 3 Napavine girls basketball team fell Friday night in the 2B state semifinals against No. 2 Okanogan, 65-54.
The Tigers got off to a poor start, hitting just one shot in the first quarter and trailing 17-5 before they finally found their footing midway through the second quarter.
Though the Tigers made a game of it late, trimming a 17-point deficit to five with 2:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs just never wore down, and pulled away to vault into the state title game.
Napavine will play Warden Saturday at 1 p.m. for third/fifth-place back at Spokane Arena.
“We were doing so well in that zone and their shots weren’t falling and it got us back into the game,” Tigers coach Shane Schutz said. “They just hit big shots and that’s what great players do. I’m so proud of our kids, they battled and didn’t quit.”
Before the comeback, the Tigers had perhaps their toughest first quarter of the season, with just a made Hayden Kaut 3-pointer and a couple of free throws to show for its start against the No. 2 team in the state.
That, combined with early turnovers, and 26 for the entire game, were not a winning recipe for a team with state title aspirations heading into Friday.
“Their pressure rattled us a little bit, our nerves and not being there affected us,” Schutz said. “We were so nervous we forgot what to do. We haven’t seen that kind of pressure all year long. We adjusted midway through the second and for the rest of the game, we just had a rough start. You can start that way against good teams.”
But then the Tigers weathered the storm, wearing the Bulldogs down with a 2-3 zone and pressure, and eventually pulled back into the game after a great second half from Taylen Evander and company. The freshman finished with 10 points, and Morgan Hamilton added 12 with Danielle Tupuola chipping in another 11.
Though the Tigers haven’t played on this stage in quite some time, Schutz said that he was proud of how his team responded, given their fifth-place finish in the Central 2B last season. At worst, the Tigers will finish fifth in the state this year, and could finish third with a win over No. 4 Warden tomorrow, the defending state champions.
“We earned their respect today,” Schutz said. “I think people can look at this final four and see they are the four best teams left. We earned that respect tonight.
“We’re going to play another eally good team, we have to flush it because we’re out here to earn our respect. Hopefully today we showed it, but we have to come out and earn it again against Warden, too.”
