Here's a breakdown of Class 3A District 3/4 semifinal games played at Mount Tahoma High School on Wednesday night.
White River found itself in unfamiliar territory, trailing to Decatur at halftime in a 3A District 3/4 tournament semifinal game at Mount Tahoma on Wednesday night. The Hornets had already defeated the Gators twice this season, both by comfortable margins.
The answer the third time around: a heavy dose of feeding the ball to 6-foot forward Vivian Kingston in the third quarter.
Kingston sparked White River's run, the Hornets jumped out to a lead and never looked back, beating Decatur 62-49 to advance to the bidistrict championship game.
"Getting (Kingston) the ball opened up all our shooters outside," said White River sophomore guard Maggee Schmitz, who scored a game-high 26 points. "She was feeling it, she got the hot hand, we kept feeding her the ball.
"We knew we had to step it up. We knew we had beaten this team before and we knew we had to play as a team."
And then Schmitz heated up, scoring 16 of her 26 points in the second half.
"I knew I had to get to the hoop to score, knew I had to try to drive, so that's what I did," Schmitz said.
Decatur was paced by Iyanna Waltar's 15 points. Jeralynn Sevaaetasi and guard Jayda Thomas added 13 points for the No. 14 seed Gators, who advanced to the semifinal round with a stunning upset of No. 3 Bellarmine in the first round and a win over Auburn Mountainview in the quarterfinals.
Both teams are safely into the state tournament. And now White River (20-2) will get a crack at top-seeded North Thurston in the bidistrict championship game on Saturday, 5 p.m. at Mount Tahoma.
"We've been preparing for that," Schmitz said. "We've been watching film and everything. We're ready for it."
It didn't take long for North Thurston to turn the game into a track meet, pushing the tempo at an overwhelming pace that has become the Rams' signature this season. That was bad news for River Ridge, which didn't have the answers for the questions North Thurston kept asking.
North Thurston ran up and down the court, forcing turnovers, scoring in transition, inside, outside -- anywhere and everywhere -- running away with a 89-51 win to advance to the 3A District 3/4 championship game on Saturday.
"We just work our butts off on defense, turn them into fast breaks, run those lanes, get wide for open threes or the open layup," said junior guard Shayla Cordis. "Then when we get the contact, we finish and it's And-1 every single time."
Cordis, who transferred from Timberline in the offseason, put on a show, scoring a game-high 37 points.
"At the beginning, I knew my shots weren't falling, so I just attacked the hoop," she said. "I stepped back to the three and ever since then my shot was going in."
Senior guard Grace Lee added 18 points. Senior guard Soraya Ogaldez and sophomore forward Sierra Cordis added 14 points apiece. Ogaldez fouled out midway through the third quarter, picking up her fifth foul on a technical foul after making a shot.
Junior guard Brandi Stanford led River Ridge with 25 points. North Thurston (25-1) has now won 25 straight games after dropping the season opener to Olympia.
"We just keep working as a team," Cordis said. "It's just amazing, coming from losing games and being down on myself to now winning all these games with all these new players, it's just amazing. We just keep playing as a team, pushing the ball."
Defense is the name of the game in Auburn these days. For the second time in the past three games, the Trojans held an opponent under 30 points. Last week, Auburn beat Bethel in the tournament's opening round, 62-25.
Guard Keleesa Howard led the Trojans with 17 points. Ariyana Deloney added 11.