Colfax Upends Dayton, 47-29

WALLA WALLA – Cold shooting and turnovers plagued the Dayton girls' basketball team Saturday night, as they lost to Colfax here, 47-29, in the final round of the 2B District 7/9 sub-regional tournament. The Lady Bulldogs still advance to the 2B state round of 16, as #2 seed. They will play White Swan at Chiawanna High School in Pasco at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Dayton and Colfax both struggled to get anything going in the first quarter Saturday, as Dayton held on to a 1-0 lead until less than four minutes remained. At the end of the quarter, Colfax led 8-5. Colfax again outscored Dayton 8-5 in the second quarter, taking a 16-10 lead into halftime.

"We missed a lot of lay-ins in the first half," said Dayton Coach Clayton Strong. "If some of those shots would have gone in, it would have been a different game."

After playing mostly man-to-man defense in the first half, Colfax took advantage or their lead and switched to a half-court zone trap defense after halftime. Strong said his team had trouble handling the new scheme. "We let it bother us," he said. "We got to spots late and couldn't make plays. I'll give Colfax credit; it was well executed."

Colfax got on track in third quarter, and quickly extended their lead, taking advantage of multiple Dayton turnovers and missed shots. Dayton again scored only five points in the third quarter, and trailed 33-15 at the end of three. The Lady Bulldogs continued to struggle from the floor in the fourth quarter, hitting only two field goals, but they were 10 of 16 from the free-throw line, and matched Colfax's 14 points in that frame.

For the game, the Lady Bulldogs shot a dismal six-for-43 from the field, or 14%. Sixteen of their 29 points came from the free-throw line. They also committed multiple turnovers.

Lexie Ramirez led her team with nine points, including a three-pointer in the second quarter. Sarah Phillips had six points and Josilyn Fullerton five.

"Colfax is well-coached and they are the defending state champs," Strong said. "But you can't win games with just six field goals."

Looking forward to Saturday's loser-out game against White Swan, Strong said his team will work on the basics. "We've got to take care of the ball," he said. "And we've got to make our shots."

If Dayton wins Saturday, they will move on to the final round of the state tournament, to be held at Spokane's Veteran's Memorial Arena on March 5, 6 and 7.