PUYALLUP - Katie Collier's 20 points kept Seattle Christian in the hunt before Cascade Christian pulled the plug in overtime for a 42-39 Nisqually 1A girls basketball win on Thursday, Feb. 9, that gave the home standing Cougars the No. 1 seed to Tri-District after the teams split regular season wins to end up in a first place tie with 11-1 league records. Both teams will host first-round Tr-District games.
Seattle Christian is 13-8 overall while Cascade Christian is 18-2.
Collier's spin move inside for a basket tied the score at 38-38 with 2:36 remaining in the four-minute overtime period. Sixteen seconds later, Collier drew her fifth foul and Chloe Read converted the second of two free throws for a 39-38 Cougar lead.
Following exchanges of possessions and turnovers, Cascade Christian inbounded behind its own offensive basket and Kaydyn Coltom passed the ball to a backdoor cutting Kaycee Creech for a lay up that stretched the CCHS lead to 41-38 with 1:11 left in the overtime.
Fouled inside, Catie Shelton sank the second of two free throws as the Warriors stayed in range for a win18 seconds later. SCS had several good chances to close in, but closely missed shots and a critical steal by Coltom with 11.9 seconds left put Katie Rozumny on the line where she made the second of two charity tosses
Seattle Christian put up shots that wouldn't fall and fell to its tough opponent.
"I thought we played really well as a team," said Collier. "Overall, the team played great and we're still up beat about the playoffs. We beat this team by one the last time and they just beat us this time."
"It was a great game," said Warrior head coach Dave Jansen. "The game was well executed by both teams. Besides Collier being great, Carmen Terhune gave us a great spurt on scoring and gave Katie a chance to rest. Madelyn Weber played good defense in stages."
First quarter play featured hard fought action before the Warriors popped out with a 10-9 lead. In front of a full house audience that was vocally intense, the home team Cougars waged war to capitalize on Seattle Christian turnovers for eight consecutive points and a 17-10 second quarter lead.
After a back court scramble, senior Carmen Terhune emerged with the ball to dribble the length of the court for a lay up and free throw, completing a three-point play to end the SCS scoring drought with 2:23 before halftime.
At the end of the quarter, Collier passed to Shelton for lay up to counter two Cascade Christian free throws as Seattle Christian trailed 19 -15 at the break.
Cascade started the second half with three points in a row before two Collier assists to Jessica Johnson sandwiched around Collier's two free throws brought SCS within 22-21. The firm of Colton and Creech negotiated a 7-0 Cougar charge to send CCHS into the third quarter with a 29-21 lead.
As the quarter progressed, Collier was shouldering responsibilities as a playmaker, scorer, defender and rebounder. Collier accounted for 10 points with key assists and rebounds in the mix as well.
Aly Kaler's three-point swisher moved SCS within 29-26 as the Warriors worked their way back into contention. Six Collier points and an assist to Madelyn Weber for a basket turned a 30-26 deficit into a 34-30 Seattle Christian control with three minutes left in regulation.
Colton and Creech rallied Cascade Christian to a 34-all deadlock that Collier broke with a lay up off an inbounds pass as 1:08 showed on the scoreboard clock. Fifty six seconds later Coltom scored off an inbounds pass after a Cougar time out, leaving Seattle Christian with 1.7 seconds left. The Warriors were unable to work home a score to set up the overtime.
Shelton scored five points while Jessica Johnson had four. Kaler (3), Terhune (3), Alayna Gleason (2) and Weber (2) rounded out the Warrior scoring.
Chloe Read joined Creech with 11 points each for the Cougars. Katie Rozumny earned 10 points.
