Prep Basketball Roundup | Vashon and King's boys, Seattle Christian girls in 1A finals

YAKIMA — John Gage made 11 of 15 shots and scored 30 points, leading top-ranked Vashon Island to a 66-53 victory over Bellevue Christian Friday in the Class 1A boys basketball state semifinals.

The Pirates (25-1) will face King's in tonight's title game — the first appearance in the final for Vashon. Unranked King's (20-7) of Shoreline took down No. 3 Port Townsend 48-31 in the other semifinal.

Gage, a 6-foot-9 junior, scored six of Vashon's 14 third-quarter points as the Pirates built a 47-28 lead. Bellevue Christian didn't get closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"That's a championship-caliber team," said coach Mike Downs of No. 10 Bellevue Christian (19-7), whose teams won two of the last four titles. "They controlled the tempo, hit their free throws down the stretch — they're a very impressive team. They played like champions."

Alex Wegner chipped in 15 points and Thomas Timm-Skove scored 10 for Vashon. Gage also had a game-high 14 rebounds, two blocks and three steals.

Bellevue Christian set a tournament record for three-pointers made with 13. Aaron Iseman hit four threes and scored 14 points. David Downs added 13 points and Brandon Kats 12 for Bellevue Christian.

Other 1A boys semifinal

King's 48, Port Townsend 31

Leading 25-15 at halftime, the Knights reeled off the first seven points of the third quarter against Port Townsend (22-4). Port Townsend never got closer than 10 points after that. Junior guard Ryan Hoff drilled four first-half three-pointers and had 16 points and eight rebounds for King's.

"We definitely came into every one of these state games as underdogs," said Hoff, whose team started the season 3-5. "I think everybody was thinking King's was down this year, and every game we came in with the attitude that those guys were trying to take this from us."

1A girls semifinal

Seattle Christian 43, Freeman 42

Lexi Peterson's free throw with no time on the clock lifted the top-ranked Warriors past No. 2 Freeman and into their first title game. Carley Heinen's basket with four seconds left had tied the score for Freeman.

Warriors coach Bob Kickner wasn't worried about putting Peterson, his 5-10 sophomore guard, at the foul line with the game on the line, even though she had missed the front end of a one-and-one with 26 ticks left.

"Lexi is our league MVP and our go-to player," he said. "She is trained for moments like that."

Kara Kogle scored 14 points for Seattle Christian (25-1), which plays fifth-ranked Granger (22-4) for the title at 7 tonight.

Granger 41, Connell 34

In Yakima, Janae Klarich scored 27 points and lifted Granger into its first 1A title-game appearance. Klarich sank 7 of 10 three-point attempts against third-ranked Connell (23-3).

2B boys semifinals

Davenport 57, White Swan 50

In Spokane, Taylor Morgan scored 22 points on 11-of-16 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds as the hot-shooting Gorillas (17-5) reached the championship game. Morgan Scharff, a 6-9 center, had nine rebounds and four blocked shots for Davenport, which shot 58 percent. Drew Blodgett scored 19 for second-ranked White Swan (19-3).

Northwest Christian (Colbert) 59, Garfield-Palouse 46

Matt Zandbergen got eight of his 18 points in overtime and grabbed 16 rebounds as top-ranked, three-time defending champ Northwest Christian (28-0) escaped. Tyson Palmer, who scored 19 for fourth-ranked Garfield-Palouse (22-5), missed a driving shot and a putback attempt in the final seconds of regulation.

2B girls semifinals

Colfax 54, White Pass 33

Kayla Johnson's 26 points and 11 rebounds powered the No. 4 Bulldogs (25-2) back to the title game after placing fourth last year. Colfax won consecutive titles in 2004, '05, 06 and 07 before the run was interrupted last year. Mikel Elliott scored 15 for the No. 6 Panthers (22-6) from Randle.

Napavine 52, LaSalle 42

The top-ranked Tigers (26-0) shot only 16 percent in the second half, but held on to win a rematch of last year's title game against the defending champ Lightning (19-6) from Yakima.

Northwest 2A boys

Sultan 75, Anacortes 61

(3rd-4th, both to state)

At Squalicum, the Turks took third place in the district tournament. Sultan, which has been to state only once, in 1961, will play in the state tournament next week at the Yakima SunDome.

The Yakima Herald-Republic and The Associated Press contributed to this report.