CHS Girls Basketball

"The third quarter killed us," Bruins Coach Mike Yarnell said. "We came out flat and they came out and hit some big shots that changed the game."

The Wildcats (3-2 in Trico, 4-9 overall) made four 3-point baskets in the third quarter to turn an 18-15 halftime lead into a 34-23 advantage entering the fourth quarter.

Columbia (1-4, 6-6) continued to trail by 11 with 3 minutes remaining.

"Then we pressed them, made a 7-0 run and got it to within four," Yarnell said.

But that's as close as the Bruins would get in a game they hoped to win in order to move into a tie with La Center for fourth place in Trico standings.

"We played pretty good defense, we out-rebounded them (30-26)," Yarnell noted, adding, "We did everything we could have done except put the ball in the hole" more often than La Center did.

The Wildcats earned the victory by outscoring the Bruins 15-0 from behind the 3-point line and 9-4 from the free-throw line.

Said Yarnell: "It was just one of those nights. They made five 3-pointers and we missed 10 3-footers."

Ericka Ziegler and Kelsey Kidd paced the Bruins' attack.

Ziegler had 17 points (nine in the fourth quarter), eight rebounds and three steals, while Kidd finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, five steals and two assists.

Kalama 51, at Columbia 36:

The Chinooks kept pace with Ilwaco atop the Trico leaderboard with the Jan. 9 victory over the Bruins.

Kalama (4-0, 6-4) had three players score in double figures, led by Mandy Wall's 18 points.

"They're a good ballclub," Bruins Coach Mike Yarnell said of the Chinooks. "We've seen everybody but Rochester, but I think they're the team to beat."

The Chinooks jumped out to an 18-6 first-quarter lead but gave some of their advantage back in the second quarter when the Bruins closed to within 32-24 by halftime.

But Columbia, which scored the first basket of the third quarter to make it 32-26, couldn't match its second-quarter production in the second half.

Kalama answered CHS's third-quarter start with an 11-0 run that pushed its lead to 43-26 with 3:11 remaining in the period.

"We needed to put together a run in the third quarter and it didn't happen," Yarnell said.

When the third quarter ended, Kalama possessed a 45-30 lead. The closest Columbia came in the fourth quarter was 12 points; its largest deficit of the night was 18 (51-33 with 2:57 to play).

For CHS, Ericka Ziegler posted a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds (10 on the offensive glass), and made five steals.

Kelsey Kidd added six points and 11 rebounds, and Jenny Pulido provided seven points, seven rebounds and four steals.