Bruin girls in second place in Trico

WHITE SALMON — In their biggest win of the season, the Columbia High Bruins beat the King’s Way Christian High Knights in a key WIAA Class 1A Trico League girls basketball game Jan. 16 at home, 34-24.

The Bruins (6-2 Trico, 7-4 overall), guided by fourth-year coach Justin Frazier, overcame a 12-11 first quarter deficit, and then they outscored the Knights (6-2 Trico, 9-4 overall) 23-12 over the last three quarters to pull out the huge victory and a fourth consecutive win. The win propelled the Bruins into a tie for second place with the Knights in the eight-team league standings.

“Everyone played really well; we played with a lot of poise in the second half, and we slowed them [Knights] down,” said Frazier. “Our shots didn’t go in much in the first half, but then they were going in well in the second half and we just had a really good total team effort. The girls really wanted to get a win against a high-quality team that is always one of the top teams in our league every year.”

The Bruins were led offensively by senior Halle Kock (13 points, seven steals).

“It was definitely the biggest win of the year for us. We were down at halftime, and then we came back and played really hard in the third quarter on defense. We shut them down and we only allowed them to score a total of 10 points in the second half,” Frazier said. “With the quality of the opponent that we played, it was a total team effort that helped us get a big win over King’s Way. Claira [Camacho] was the player-of-the-game for us, because she played phenomenal defense and she helped shut down their [Knights] best player.”

Earlier on Jan. 12, the Bruins bolted out to an 14-5 first quarter advantage, ultimately leading  from start-to-finish in a 53-34 road win over the Castle Rock High Rockets (1-7 Trico, 3-11 overall). The Bruins outscored the Rockets 17-6 in the second quarter to build a 31-11 halftime advantage.

Frazier and assistant Coach Clinton Curtis had an unusual and — seemingly — effective motivational tactic last week. Frazier told the players that if they won four straight games, the coaches would do a polar plunge and jump into the Columbia River, which is what they did on Monday.

Junior Taniah Barajas led the Bruins in scoring with 13 points. Senior Sara Miller had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.

The Bruins faced the struggling Stevenson High Bulldogs (0-7 Trico, 2-10 overall) Jan. 15 at home and they recorded a 68-16 blowout win. The Bruins took control of the game from the outset for their largest margin of victory (52 points) this year, and they also recorded a season-high point total.

Kock had 14 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Miller had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Bruins had a season-high of 10 players who scored in the game.