Class 4A girls tournament: Redmond girls survive OT upset bid from Puyallup

TACOMA — They consider themselves fearless.

But the unbeaten, second-ranked Redmond Mustangs seemed skittish last night as they opened their quest for their first Class 4A state girls basketball championship. Unranked Puyallup threw a scare into them before falling in overtime, 56-51, in the tournament's late-night finale.

Thanks to some key rebounding by junior Claire Pallansch and clutch shooting by sophomore Mackenzie Flynn, the Mustangs (24-0) still have a chance to ride off into the sunset with the title. Next up in tonight's 8:30 p.m. quarterfinal is No. 6 Enumclaw (22-4), which was impressive last night in its 67-46 romp past Oak Harbor.

Flynn, who scored six of Redmond's nine points in overtime, admitted the Mustangs seemed to be playing not to lose for much of last night's game.

"Usually, we play fearless," said Flynn, a 5-foot-7 guard who came off the bench to deliver nine points and eight rebounds. "I thought we played timid, not like ourselves."

The 6-2 Pallansch hauled in 17 rebounds, including 11 offensive. At least four of those came in overtime. And although the Mustangs were shaky at times, they never seemed to doubt they could pull this one off, despite hitting only 3 of 11 free throws in the first half and 5 of 26 three-pointers for the game.

"There really wasn't any panic," Coach Pat Bangasser said.

Pallansch agreed.

"We knew this was our game," she said.

One of today's biggest questions is whose game it will be when Central Valley (25-1), the two-time defending champion, takes on No. 6 Kennewick (23-3), which ended the Bears' record-tying win streak at 56 just last week. Those two titans clash at 3:30 p.m.

The other quarterfinals pair No. 9 Garfield (20-5) against Lake Stevens (19-6) at 5 p.m. and No. 3 Prairie (25-2) against No. 7 Pasco (25-1) at 7 p.m.

Central Valley of Spokane advanced with a 59-45 victory over No. 4 Kentlake (23-3), the ninth straight state win for the Bears. Can Kennewick stop this streak?

Emily Westerbrook, last year's tournament MVP and state player of the year who has signed with Arizona State, believes the pressure's on the Lions this time.

"I think they're going to be a little bit nervous because it's revenge for us," said Westerberg, who had 26 points and 10 rebounds.

Kennewick guard Leilani Mitchell, who had 35 points to spark last week's upset, expects the Bears to have an extra spark in this one.

"I'm sure they want to come knock us out, so we have to come prepared to play better than we did last week," said Mitchell, who led her Tri-Cities team past Monroe in yesterday's opening game, 38-32.

Prairie Coach Al Aldridge expects a battle.

"I think it will be an emotional game," he said. "CV will be mad and Kennewick will be out to prove it wasn't a fluke."

Westerberg said the streak wasn't that important to her team. Winning another championship is. "We definitely want to defend what's ours," she said.

The last time Central Valley didn't win the title (2000), Kennewick did. Before that, Prairie won two straight. The Falcons from suburban Vancouver had a chance to become the first team in the history of 4A or 3A (girls or boys) to win three in a row after reaching the title game, but lost to Kennewick in OT.

Prairie has the potential to win it all again this year and had impressive spurts in yesterday's 62-42 win over Lewis and Clark of Spokane. But Aldridge expects a barn-burner with Pasco. The Bulldogs, who beat Kennewick three out of four times, rolled past Olympia last night, 50-22.

Garfield Coach Joyce Walker knows her team has a chance to be in the semifinals for the first time since 1987, when the Bulldogs won their second title. They had the most incredible run of the day, roaring away from Jefferson of Federal Way with a 25-0 spree to close out the third quarter. If they play that well, they'll have a shot against a Lake Stevens team that prides itself on defense.

"If we take care of the ball and play good defense, we'll have a chance," Walker said.

The Enumclaw Hornets like to think they'll have a chance against Redmond, especially if they shoot the way they did last night (47.5 percent) against Oak Harbor, although Coach Ted Carlson said, "It's not going to be an easy task."