ACH girls run out of gas in 1B state championship game
SPOKANE — The Almira/Hartline-Coulee girls will forever be remembered as the team that ended Colton’s run of State 1B championships at eight straight on Friday. But the giant killers just didn’t have anything left in the tank in Saturday’s 51-29 loss to Republic in the championship game.
“No legs left,” Warriors coach Mike Correia said even before the first question was asked.
The No. 6 Warriors (23-5) shot just 20 percent from the floor and didn’t score in double digits in any of the four quarters.
It wasn’t that the Tigers (25-2) were so much better, they’d beaten them in the district championship. It’s just that ACH had done all the heavy lifting in Republic’s 1B state championship with wins over eight-time state champion Colton (23-3) and previously unbeaten Tacoma Baptist (25-2) in the previous two rounds.
“The key in playing ACH is to be aggressive,” said Republic coach Ted Torzewski, whose team shot 40.4 percent from the floor. “You have to make sure you’re rebounding and doing all the little things because they’re well coached and they know how to play.”
It’s a shame ACH couldn’t cap off one of the greatest runs in modern 1B history, but what a run it was. ACH rolled into Spokane on Tuesday night because it had a game at 9 a.m. in the tournament opener against Yakama Nation Tribal the following morning. They disposed of Yakama 59-36. They had another brutal 9 a.m. game on Thursday, but won by 12 against previously unbeaten Tacoma Baptist (25-2), which went into the game with 24 consecutive wins.
Then came the big one. Berlyn Hunt, the lone senior on Almira/Coulee-Hartline’s roster, lit it up from 3-point range, scoring 15 of her 24 points from downtown to lead the stunning upset over a program that set the standard in 1B girls basketball for years. Colton’s run of state championships ended at eight straight with a 50-46 loss.
“I told the girls they will forever be known as the team that stopped the Colton streak. That is definitely an accomplishment in itself,” said Correia, who has led six Warrior teams to a state championship game without a win. “This was very much a growing year. We had five seniors graduate from last year, so we had a lot of new girls do a good job of stepping up and doing good things.”
Hunt’s trip to the chiropractor between the Tacoma Baptist and Colton games did wonders in her stroke.
“I love the chiropractor. He got everything realigned and I felt great,” said the Warrior senior, who finished her high school career with 10 points against Republic. “To be honest with you, beating Colton made this hurt a little bit less. Even though we didn’t get the championship, we knocked off Colton, which is a huge accomplishment.
“It’s hard to go four days at a state tournament. We knew we had to bring it all for Colton and there was no saving our legs for the next game. We just didn’t have anything left. We were all pretty dead.”
ACH 50, Colton 46
Hunt was 5-of-15 from 3-point range and finished with 24 points and eight rebounds to lead the upset. Tiffany Boutain had 13 points and seven rebounds. Mikayla Rushton added nine rebounds and six points for the Warriors, who out-rebounded Colton 41-29 and held the Wildcats to just two points in the third quarter.
Rodney Harwood is a sports writer for the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com
Score by quarters
ACH 8 8 7 6 - 29
Republic 16 13 11 11 - 51
ACH - Sarah Bradshaw 8, Berlyn Hunt 10, Gabi Isaak 2, Caitlin O’Neil 4, Mikayla Rushton 5. Totals - Field goals: 12. 3-point goals: 4. Free throws: 1-3. Score: 29
Republic - Carlie Rittel 4, Michelle Vanslyke 2, Kianna Koepke 4, Lily Beckwith 14, Shania Graham 23, Kailee Rittel 4. Totals - Field goals: 21. 3-point goals: 6-22. Free throws: 3-5. Score 51