High School Sports
Girls quarterfinals

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Prairie 58, Central Valley 48

Andrea Sitton scored eight of her 20 points in the second quarter as defending champion Prairie opened a lead and advanced to the semifinals for the seventh straight year. It was the 26th consecutive victory for the top-ranked Falcons (26-1) from suburban Vancouver.

Rachel Stratton also scored 20 points for Prairie, which beat Central Valley in last year's championship game. This is the fifth straight year and sixth time in seven years the two powerhouse programs have tangled at state. Prairie leads the series 4-2.

The sixth-ranked Bears (24-3), who had reached the semifinals each of the past four years, got off to a hot start, hitting 6 of 11 shots while taking a 15-12 lead. But they soon went ice cold, making just 1 of 11 tries in the second quarter.

It was 18-all with less than two minutes to play in the half when Sitton hit two free throws to start a 13-3 run that carried over into the third period and gave Prairie a 33-23 lead.

A three-pointer by Reagan Pariseau cut the gap to seven with 4:49 left in the game, but the Falcons ticked off 10 unanswered points to end the comeback bid.

Pariseau paced Central Valley with 21 points, six rebounds, seven steals and four assists. Salena Leavitt added 11 points.

Garfield 60, University 54

 
It looked like the third-ranked Bulldogs would run away with it early as they raced to a 17-4 lead, but No. 5 University of Spokane made them work until the final horn.

Malia O'Neal, who had been battling a virus, went off for 26 points and Samantha Tinned added 20 points and 10 rebounds as Garfield (23-3) reached the semifinals for the second straight year.

"Malia was on fire," Bulldogs coach Joyce Walker said. "She wasn't going to be sick two days in a row. That really isn't her temperament. It was really the Malia and Sam show tonight and everybody else just kind of plugged in."

O'Neal and Tinned combined for all but three of Garfield's first 17 points, and the other three came on a long buzzer-beater by Lacale Pringle with the shot clock running down. During one stretch Garfield made 8 of 10 shots.

The Bulldogs were up 31-17 with just under four minutes left in the second quarter, when the Bjorklund sisters brought University (23-4) back, combining for a 12-4 run to close the half. Jami Bjorklund, a 5-11 junior, had seven of those points to finish the half with 19, making 6 of 9 shots from the field and 7 of 8 free throws. She wound up with a game-high 29 and 11 rebounds. Sister Angie, a 5-11 freshman, added 16 points and five boards.

Snohomish 58, Richland 56 (OT)

Junior Kristin Moore converted a leaping layin off a backdoor lob pass from Daesha Henderson with 12.8 seconds left — and just one tick on the 30-second shot clock — for a four-point lead as the ninth-ranked Panthers (23-2) moved into the state semifinals for the first time since 2000.

Freshman guard Amanda Best drained a three-pointer from 22 feet with 4.9 seconds left in regulation after a timeout to set up the play as Snohomish forced overtime. That tied the score at 47-47.

"We executed two plays late in the game we were looking for," Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said, admitting his team worked on situations this week after not having many close games. "We haven't played our best basketball yet, and today we got second life. Amanda drills that shot and now what do we have to lose?

"We're going to finish third, sixth, first or second."

Junior forward Sydney Benson led the Panthers with 14 points and Moore, a 5-6 guard, added 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Best, who finished with five points, said her game-tying shot felt good.

"I knew it was in," she said of her lone field goal of the game. "My team has had confidence in me all year that I could that. I knew I could do it."

Alece McCoy had 17 points and eight rebounds for Richland (24-3).

Roosevelt 59, Lewis and Clark 50

The eighth-ranked Roughriders (23-3) advanced to the state semifinals for the first time and assured themselves of the school's best finish with a quarterfinal upset of second-ranked Lewis and Clark of Spokane.

Tracy Leddo, a 5-3 senior guard, collected 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and was 5 of 7 from three-point range. Darnellia Russell added 14 points, six assists and six steals.

Roosevelt preserved the win by hitting 13 of 22 free throws in the fourth quarter, including 9 of 12 in the final 1:54. Breianna Gaines converted 7 of 10 in the final 4:15 and finished with nine points and 10 rebounds.

The Tigers (24-3) led by as many nine, 26-17, midway through the second quarter. Heather Bowman led Lewis and Clark with 18 points. Katy Baker added 14 points and 10 rebounds and Briann January contributed 10 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

— Sandy Ringer and Matt Massey

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company