Cougars open state tournament with win over Davenport

SPOKANE — The No. 2 seed Cougars snapped a two-game skid with Wednesday’s Round of 12 win over No. 10 Davenport, defeating the Gorillas 64-49 in the 2B Girls State Basketball Tournament.

“We went back to basics,” Warden head coach Josh Madsen said. “I think we got a little bit too much into our heads. We want to be prepared, but not so much so that we forget to just go play basketball. We went back to some pretty simple stuff at practice, trying to build the girls back up — high-energy, fast, intense — and the girls responded really well.”

Warden opened the game with its full-court press defense, but soon shifted philosophies after the Gorillas found players down the floor. After starting the game on a seven-point run, the Cougars led 17-11 after the first quarter.

“We were better in the halfcourt (on defense) and running out of that,” Madsen said. “We wanted to see how they would handle our press, so we didn’t stick with it all that long. We had enough confidence in our half-court defense to still cause some problems, cause some turnovers and still allow us to get out and run a little bit.”

The second frame began with a 13-0 run by the Cougars, as their offense got rolling in transition.

“It takes a lot of stress off when we can build that lead,” Warden senior Lauryn Madsen said. “It really helped when we were able to rebound the ball after their miss, and push it up the court. Advance the ball and look for the open girl for the open shot.”

Davenport, who closed the first half out with a quick 6-0 run, kept up its offensive momentum in the third quarter by capitalizing on missed shots and turnovers by the Cougars, who recorded their fifth foul two-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter. Soon enough, the Warden lead was cut back to 32-22.

“We allowed the pass into the post too much, and our help side wasn’t as strong as it was to start the game,” Lauryn Madsen said. “We worked on that, and we just needed to talk more. After a while we fixed that, and we were good after that.”

Despite the Gorilla scoring run, Warden settled down on the court and got back to scoring; the lead was pushed to 20 points on a transition layup by senior Carina Martinez. Warden held on for a 64-49 win over Davenport, advancing to the state quarterfinals against No. 8 Mabton.

“We came here saying ‘Our goal is to go 4-0,’” Josh Madsen said. “Right now we’re 1-0, and we’re going to let the girls regroup here a little bit. It will be back to work tonight, and mentally get ready for a tough Mabton team tomorrow.”

Before heading to Spokane, Warden had lost its two most recent outings; the first to Mabton on Feb. 17, a 69-59 loss in the Eastern Washington Athletic Conference district championship game; and the second to Brewster, a 68-63 loss on Friday in the regional round.

“We just felt like we needed to get out there and show what we can do,” Warden freshman Makenna Klitzke said. “I feel like everyone’s doubting us right now because we haven’t been showing how we can play, but I feel like tonight we showed how we can play.”

Klitzke scored 34 points Friday against the Bears, and followed that up with a 16-point game against Davenport. 

“The other players on our team, we all work together really well – it just fell in my favor to score that many points,” Klitzke said of her performance against Brewster. “I felt like my teammates helped me a lot that game, by setting me screens and doing things off the ball for me.”

Lauryn Madsen led the Cougars with 22 points, followed by Klitzke’s 16 points. Junior Lauren Chamberlain and senior Aliza Leinweber scored eight and six points, respectively.

Warden tips off against Mabton at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Spokane Arena.

Ian Bivona may be reached via email at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box score

DVPT: 11-6-15-17 49

WARD: 17-13-17-17 64

    Warden freshman Makenna Klitzke, in white, scores a basket in the first quarter against Davenport.
  

    Warden junior Lauren Chamberlain, left, looks for an open teammate against Davenport.
  

    Warden senior Lauryn Madsen shoots a three-pointer in the second quarter against Davenport. Madsen led the Cougars with 22 points in the win.