Back-To-Back District Champs - By Landon Dunnum
On Saturday, February 18th, the Richland Bombers played against the Kamiakin Braves at Kamiakn High School for the District 8 Girls championship game, as both teams have already punched a ticket to the state tournament, It all comes down to seeding now. The Richland Bombers come into the game on a convincing 3-game winning streak, after their previous close loss to the Braves. The Bomber´s previous game came against Central Valley in Spokane, Richland won that game by a score of 80-52 in convincing fashion. Kamiakin on the other hand has not lost a game all season in Conference play going 16-0, the Braves are coming into this championship game with a win at home against Chiawana by a score of 55-50.
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| Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf (@metcalfmedia_). |
The two regular-season meetings this season between the Bombers and Braves came down to the last 30 seconds of both games. The Braves swept the Bombers in conference play and won the two matchups by a score of 53-50, and 54-49. Something to note in both of those games is that Richland was winning for the majority of both games, leading at the half in the second game at Art Dawlad gymnasium by 9 points.
Kamiakin is currently ranked the #7 team in 4A with Richland coming in at #12. A win for both teams would be vital to seeding and momentum in the state tournament. Before the game started, I got a chance to interview starting Sophomore Mackenzie Schulz. The main question that was asked was what adjustments have the Bombers made from the last time these two teams met? Schulz replied ¨… We have adjusted our rebounding strategy, in hopes to limit Kamiakin´s rebounds¨. Schulz also went on to say for herself ¨Having played them twice, I have focused on practicing the things I need to do better in order to help win the game ¨. Going into the game, Schulz and the Bombers looked to execute better in the final part of the game and not give up easy buckets.
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| Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf (@metcalfmedia_). |
As the game began, you could tell both teams really wanted to win this game. The first quarter came to an end at a score of 16-9 in favor of Kamiakin, but the big news in the first quarter was the injury of Macie Milum, who went down with 1:47 left in the quarter and would not return to the game. At the start of the second quarter, the Braves exploded with a 6-0 run to make the score 22-9. The Bombers would then answer with 2 baskets in a row to make the score 22-15. At this point, the Bombers needed to end the half with a good finish for momentum in the second half. The lady Bombers would finish the half on a 7-5 run to end the half at 29-22 with Kamiakin leading. At the end of the Half, Kylee Fox had 9 points, and Maggie Smith had 7. The fouls in the first half added up to 19 in total, with Kamikin having 10, and Richland having 9.
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| Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf (@metcalfmedia_). |
To start the second half, Richland went on a 6-2 run, to make the score 31-28. Later in the game, the score came to 48-40 in favor of the Braves. From this point on, the Bombers had completely flipped the momentum in this game, and went on a 12-3 game, to take the lead for the first time with 3:05 left from a 3-pointer by Lexi Hay. The next possession for the Bombers was beautiful, as they wasted all the time in the shot clock, and Kylee Fox hit a 3-pointer with no time remaining on the shot clock, to make the score 55-51. As time went on, with 1:11 left, maggie smith took over and made a heroic play to extend the Bombers' lead by 4, making it 57-53. She proceeded to help her team score another basket after a layup made by the Braves to make the score 59-55 with 35 seconds left. And to ice the game, the bombers stole the ball after a couple of missed shots from the Braves and went down the court to put the axe down on the Brave's perfect season. Smith would score the last bucket to win the game by a score of 61-55.
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| Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf (@metcalfmedia_). |
The Richland Bombers had completed a great comeback being down the entire game, leading in the final three minutes, to holding on and becoming back-to-back district 8 champions.
Post-game, I got a reaction from Schulz, as she was over the moon about the result that had taken place. ¨The whole team was super hyped up since we had to make a comeback. As soon as we got up we knew we were in a good spot. It was a great experience since we are now two-time district champions¨. Richland and Kamiakin will be heading to the state tournament, and the Bombers with their biggest win on the season in the most important game, to keep momentum going into the big tournament.
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| Photo courtesy of Mason Metcalf (@metcalfmedia_). |
