Photo by Eric Trent/The Chronicle - Raymond HS senior Kyra Gardner soars for a breakaway layup in a win over Mabton in the 2B state tournament last Wednesday in Spokane. The following day Gardner became Raymond's all-time scoring leader.
The Raymond Lady Seagulls brought home hardware for their trophy case by finishing sixth at the Class 2B Girls State Basketball Tournament early Saturday morning. Raymond was defeated by La Conner 67-52 in the fourth/sixth place game at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
"Our effort and intensity (was) great all tournament long and the state experience is something our kids will remember for a lifetime," RHS head coach Jason Koski said. "I appreciate all the time and effort from the players and their families as we navigated the 3½-month journey."
Gardner and Freeman paced RHS in scoring with 20 and 19 points.
Three players totaled double-doubles for the fourth-place Braves, including Sarah Cook (21 pts/10 rebs), Ellie Marble (19 pts/11 rebs) and Rachel Cram (17 pts/10 rebs).
Paige Williams and Gardner led Raymond in rebounding with 6 apiece and Alia Enlow took down 5. Freeman gave out 4 assists, followed by Gardner (3) and Enlow (2).
La Conner outscored Raymond in the paint, 20-12. Both teams shot respectably from the field; La Conner was at 48.1 (25 of 52) and Raymond hit for 46.7 percent (21 of 45). At the foul line, RHS was 5 of 8, LHS, 6 of 11.
"We definitely met a buzz saw group of shooters from La Conner," Coach Koski said. "Their 3-point shooting was amazing. It didn't help that we were late on close-outs - giving them wide open catch-and-shoot threes." The Braves nailed 61.1 percent (11 of 18) of their 3-point shots.
The Braves controlled the board battle, 35-27. La Conner committed only 8 turnovers and the Lady Gulls had 9.
Raymond led 13-12 after the first quarter. La Conner claimed the second quarter, 21-18, for a 33-31 halftime edge. The Braves extended their lead to 49-44 after three stops, and then outscored RHS 18-8 in the fourth quarter. La Conner's biggest lead was 18 points with 2:02 to play. Raymond's biggest lead was eight points with 5:58 left in the first half.
La Conner closed out the season at 23-2. Pacific League and District IV champion Raymond finished at 20-4.
Raymond will lose seniors Gardner, Sidney Swogger, Olivia Stigar, Grace Busenius, Izzy Silvernail and Page Chan.
Lady Gulls, CLHS 42
Raymond ended Chief Leschi's season in a loser-out matchup Friday morning, 56-42. The Lady Seagulls led from wire-to-wire. Gardner led all scorers with 24 points and 9 steals. It marked the fourth time in as many games this season the Lady Seagulls defeated the Warriors.
"After the blowout loss to Colfax last night, the girls were ready to wash that bad taste outta their mouth and compete," Coach Koski said. "They showed great resolve and resiliency in the first half building a 20 point lead.
"Then came the second half, an almost identical situation as in the district championship game," Koski lamented. "We lost our defensive focus and didn't run good offense to counter that, letting Leschi get our lead down to eight. Luckily, we made just enough free throws to seal the game away."
Raymond connected on only 22.4 percent of its shots on 15 of 67. The Lady Seagulls were lethal at the foul line - canning 20 of 26 for 76.9 percent. Leschi shot 28.3 percent (15 of 53) from the floor and 50 percent (7 of 14) at the charity stripe.
Williams (8 points) tore down 15 rebounds. "Paige Williams came off the bench and was a great energy boost for us today," Coach Koski noted.
Gardner (2 blocks) grabbed 8 and Kyndal Koski (1 blk) snared 5 caroms. Freeman threw in 12 points.
Tala Mitchell popped in 17 points for Chief Leschi and Mylina Pluff turned in a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
The Warriors closed the season at 15-7.
Raymond led 15-9 after one quarter, 35-15 at halftime and 44-28 heading into the fourth quarter.
Colfax 67, RHS 34
Colfax pummeled Raymond 67-34 in the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon. Gardner tallied 21 points for RHS, and in doing so, became the all-time scoring leader in RHS history when she tallied her 1,860th point in the fourth quarter on a trey. Gardner surpassed the 1990 record set by Ronalda Dunn of 1,859 points.
The one- two punch of 6-2 ninth grader Brynn McGaughy (27 pts, 18 rebs, 2 blks) and 5-9 senior guard Asher Cai (22 pts, 7 rebs) was too much for the Lady Gulls to counteract.
"Defensively, we couldn't contain Brynn McGaughy and CWU commit Asher Cai," Coach Koski said.
Raymond shot poorly from the floor at 22.2 percent (12 of 54). Colfax was at 35.2 percent (25 of 71). "On offense, we shot so poorly that we didn't give ourselves a chance," Coach Koski added.
The Lady Gulls had 18 turnovers and Colfax had 11.
The Bulldogs upped their record to 21-1.
The game was close after one quarter with Colfax leading 15-11. The Bulldogs outscored RHS 18-7 in both the second and third quarters for a 51-25 advantage, and then took the final frame 16-9.
Raymond 65, Mabton 44
Raymond shrugged off its regional loss with a relatively easy win over young and inexperienced Mabton 65-44 in last Wednesday's afternoon loser-out matchup at the state tournament. Gardner showed she's the three-time MVP of the Pacific League, as she took command, as she has all season, with 30 points, 10 steals, 9 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 blocked shots.
"Starting from the tip, the girls were ready to play, and it showed, ending the first quarter with an 11-point lead," Coach Koski told the Herald Wednesday afternoon.
Freeman came through with 13 points, 7 boards and 3 steals.
Raymond won the battle of the boards 45-27. Also looming large for RHS under the boards were Paige Williams, Enslow (1 stl) and Koski (1 assist) with 6 caroms apiece.
"Rebounding was a big factor today," Coach Koski said.
Williams also handed out 3 assists and blocked a shot.
Mabton was 10 of 13 at the foul line compared to 5 of 7 for RHS.
Raymond turned the ball over 24 times and MHS had 22 turnovers.
"Twenty-four turnovers will not be sustainable for the next game or any others going forward," Coach Koski warned.
Raymond held the Vikings to 27.3 percent shooting on 15 of 55. Meanwhile, the Lady Seagulls were at 48.3 percent on 28 of 58.
Ninth grader Esmeralda Sanchez scored 10 points for Mabton, which closed out its season at 17-9. The Vikings had no upperclassmen on their team.
Raymond flew off to a 23-12 first quarter edge and stretched the lead to 40-23 at intermission. The score was 51-24 after three stops. The Lady Gulls took the fourth quarter 14-10.