Othello Huskies ousted from title chase by rival Ellensburg

Ellensburg 55, Othello 48

TACOMA - There may not be two more evenly-matched teams in the 2A state girls basketball tournament than the Othello Huskies and Ellensburg Bulldogs.

For the third time this season, the Huskies and Bulldogs played an exciting, bruising affair that went down to the wire. In the rubber match, however, seventh-ranked Ellensburg got a big lead and made a few more plays down the stretch, holding off fourth-ranked Othello 55-48 in Thursday's quarterfinals at the Tacoma Dome.

Ellensburg moved into Friday's 8:30 p.m. semifinal match with the upstart Elma Eagles, a comeback victor against West Valley-Spokane on Thursday.

Othello must beat West Valley today at 3:30 p.m. to win a trophy, and the Lady Huskies can finish as high as fourth by winning its next two.

"It's disappointing because I believe the winner of (this) game will play for the state championship," Othello coach Doug Boyer said. "I believe that Ellensburg, they will beat Elma and be in the state championship."

Othello struggled mightily in the first half with foul trouble and rebounding, and the Bulldogs took advantage for a 29-17 lead at the break. But the Huskies cleaned up some of their mistakes in the second half and made a serious run.

Othello used a 10-0 run in the third period to cut Ellensburg's lead to seven. Allison Walker, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, keyed the surge with a pair of putback baskets.

The Lady Huskies trimmed their deficit to four points twice in the fourth period, once on Courtney Kirkwood's steal and breakaway layup, and again on Christine Kirkwood's long 3-pointer.

The Bulldogs answered with treys of their own on both occasions, the first from star Kayla Standish and the second by Deiara Gordon with the shot clock winding down.

Standish, the Central Washington Athletic Conference's Most Valuable Player, led Ellensburg with 17 points and added eight rebounds. Othello made her work for those points, however, as she shot only 6 of 20 from the floor.

Ellensburg dominated the first half by cleaning up on the offensive boards and sending Othello stars Walker and Courtney Kirkwood to the bench with foul trouble. Those were areas the Huskies improved on in the second half, but the hole they dug proved too big to climb out of.

"I just pointed out to them that (Ellensburg) had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half and that we needed to get it together," Boyer said. "We played passive and that's not the way we play."

Othello actually shot a higher percentage than Ellensburg in both halves, and finished at 36 percent to Ellensburg's 31.

But the Bulldogs had a 47-38 edge in rebounds, which led to an 18-8 edge in second-chance points. The Lady Huskies also committed 17 turnovers, many of them careless ones.

"Ellensburg's a great team," Boyer said. "All our games in the season were like that — they win by five, we win by five, they win by five.

"It's just too bad the third time has to be here at the state tournament."

Courtney Kirkwood had 11 points for Othello but played only 17 minutes after collecting a third foul in the second quarter.

Ellensburg also neutralized two Huskies who'd come up big in Wednesday's blowout of Black Hills. Freshman guard Christine Kirkwood scored only five on 2 of 8 shooting, while sophomore forward Kylee Mollotte had just two points, 14 less than Wednesday's game.

Ellensburg's Casey Kelleher did much of the damage down low, finishing with 14 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. Tana Ferrell was the Bulldogs' best outside threat, going for 13 points, 10 boards and three steals.

Boyer expects his team to recover quickly and play well against West Valley today.

"They're a fast-breaking team and we need to get back (on defense)," he said. "All I really know (about them) is from what I saw today."

The coach felt his girls were more disappointed about a mediocre performance against Ellensburg than losing their shot at a state title.

"They're not disappointed at all because nobody thought at the beginning of the year that we'd even make state," Boyer said. "Like I said before, we're just happy to be here."

Othello 7 10 12 19 - 48

Ellensburg 16 13 9 17 - 55

OTHELLO (48): Mollotte 1-6 0-1 2, Guzman 1-5 2-4 5, Montes 0-0 0-0 0, Co. Kirkwood 5-7 0-0 11, Walker 6-13 2-4 14, Ch. Kirkwood 2-8 0-1 5, Juarez 2-7 0-0 6, E. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, L. Garza 0-0 0-0 0, Villarreal 2-7 0-0 5, Quezada 0-0 0-0 0, Martinez 0-0 0-0 0.

ELLENSBURG (55): Minor 0-3 0-0 0, Prigge 2-7 0-0 5, Gordon 2-11 0-0 6, Ferrell 6-15 0-0 13, Wyatt 0-3 0-0 0, Standish 6-20 3-6 17, Kelleher 5-9 4-4 14, S. Bland 0-0 0-0 0, Demory 0-0 0-0 0, A. Bland 0-0 0-0 0, Carlson 0-0 0-0 0.

3-pointers: Othello 6-21 (Mollotte 0-1, Guzman 1-4, Co. Kirkwood 1-2, Ch. Kirkwood 1-5, Juarez 2-5, Villarreal 1-4), Ellensburg 6-23 (Minor 0-1, Prigge 1-3, Gordon 2-6, Ferrell 1-3, Wyatt 0-1, Standish 2-9). Rebounds: Othello 38 (Walker 12, Mollotte 8), Ellensburg 47 (Kelleher 11, Ferrell 10, Standish 8). Assists: Othello 8 (Mollotte 3), Ellensburg 7 (Minor 2, Gordon 2). Blocked shots: Othello 0, Ellensburg 0. Steals: Othello 6 (Mollotte 2, Co. Kirkwood 2), Ellensburg 13 (Kelleher 4, Standish 4). Total fouls: Othello 11, Ellensburg 12. Technical fouls: None. Turnovers: Othello 17, Ellensburg 11.

More photos here.