By Mike Weber
For Columbia Gorge News
WHITE SALMON — The Columbia High Bruins got off to a good start to their WIAA Class 1A 2025-2026 girls basketball season by winning one-out-of-three nonleague games and then winning their Trico League opener last week.
The nonleague victory came in the Hood River Valley-hosted Battle of the Bridge Tournament, Dec. 5-6. The Bruins (1-2) lost their Dec. 3 season opener, 49-22, at Class 2A Woodland (2-1). The Bruins fell behind 18-2 after one quarter and they struggled for the remainder of the contest. Senior Halle Kock led the Bruins’ offense with a team-high seven points.
The Bruins then competed in the Battle of the Bridge Tournament Dec. 5-6, while playing two nonleague games. The Bruins lost, 67-28, to the OSAA Class 6A Cleveland High Warriors (2-0) on Dec. 5. Kock led the Bruins in scoring with eight points.
The Bruins, guided by fourth-year Coach Justin Frazier, followed by notching their first win of the season on Dec. 6, 41-32, over the King’s Way Christian High Knights (1-2). The Bruins overcame a 21-16 halftime deficit by outscoring the Knights 25-11 in the second half. Kock led the Bruins’ offense with 15 points.
Frazier said: “We played two tough opponents to open the season. The team started the season a little slow, partly because the opponents we played were really good teams. I’m proud of how hard the girls worked in our last game (versus King’s Way) to help us get a win. The girls will be on track to come back and compete for a district playoff berth this year.”
The Bruins (1-0 league) played their Trico League opening contest on the road Dec. 12 and they won, 43-35, over the Kalama High Chinooks (0-1 Trico, 0-4 overall). The Bruins jumped out to a 12-1 first quarter lead and they led 21-11 at halftime.
Sarah Miller (12 points, six rebounds) led the Bruins in scoring, followed by Claria Camacho’s career-high 10 points (plus three assists, four steals). Joella Posini grabbed 15 rebounds.
The Bruins will play their next Trico contest on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. versus King’s Way in Vancouver. The Bruins will then travel to Las Vegas.
and participate in the Tarkanian Classic Holiday tournament Dec. 19-23.
“It’s always good to get a league road win,” said Frazier. “It was nice to grind out a win against Kalama. We played hard defense, but our offense was off a little in regards to shooting percentage (17-for-48, 35 percent). We played good enough defense to make up for it. We’ll have a tough game against King’s Way. The Las Vegas trip is really going to be something special for our five seniors (Kock, Miller, Camacho, Whittney Gross, Madison Russum).”
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