CHENEY – After a late push to come back and send the game into overtime, the No. 6 seed MLCA/CCS girls fell 61-58 to No. 3 Colton in the regional round of the 1B Girls State Basketball Tournament.

The Lions found themselves in foul trouble late in the fourth quarter and in overtime, which the Wildcats used to their advantage to score the first six points of the overtime period.

“They started overtime with six-straight free throws, because of bonus,” Kast said. “That put us in a hole right away. All of a sudden we had to start digging ourselves out of another hole, which they did, and made a game out of it at the end even after losing Makiya (Kast) and Ali (Stanley) to foul trouble.”

Two free throws and a basket by junior Maria Gulenko cut the Colton lead to three points, but a late three-pointer fell short of the rim to give Colton the win and a ticket to the quarterfinals in the 1B girls bracket.

“With our girls getting into foul trouble, with Makiya (Kast) and Ali (Stanley) fouled out in overtime, they did a great job of trying to shut down their two scorers,” Kast said. “Maria Gulenko and Lorena Serrato did a good job of coming in at the end there and giving us some good, quality minutes to give us a chance in overtime.”

The Lions started the game on a 9-0 run and used their height advantage to grab rebounds. Kast said the team “came ready to play” on Saturday, but the Wildcats were able to find their way back into the game and closed the first quarter on a 9-5 run.

“It started good, but then Colton did a good job crawling right back into it and tightening the gap between the end of the first quarter,” Kast said. “After that, it was on. Just back-and-forth.”

After the Wildcats took the lead late in the second quarter, MLCA/CCS senior McKenna Meise hit a three-pointer to close the gap to 35-34 in favor of Colton just before halftime.

“She has a motor that doesn’t stop,” Kast said. “Whether she’s dinged up, injured – she does whatever she can for the team. She’s always been a player that’s worked really hard, excelled and got better every year.”

The Lions found themselves down 51-44 with 2:10 remaining in the fourth quarter when they began their comeback attempt. Eighth-grader Graycie Kast scored two baskets in under a minute, moving the game to a 51-48 Colton lead with 1:19 left on the clock.

“She’s got a lot of poise in having to run the point guard at times and bringing the ball up against older girls under pressure,” Kast said. “One thing Graycie (Kast) does is she does a great job finding her way to the basket – creating something out of nothing, stepping through and making a layup.”

Down by two late in the fourth quarter, MLCA/CCS senior Kali Kast hit two free throws to tie the game at 54 with 3.1 seconds remaining. The senior finished with a team-high 21 points on Saturday night.

“Those were clutch free throws to knock those down,” Kast said. “She’s always ready to rise to the occasion no matter what the situation is.”

Despite the loss, MLCA/CCS is still moving on the Spokane Arena for a matchup against No. 11 Odessa in the round of 12. The Tigers took down Naselle 63-45 in the regional round on Saturday morning.

MLCA/CCS defeated Odessa 51-40 earlier this season on Dec. 21.

“We’ve played a lot of the top-tier teams in our classification already with Mount Vernon Christian, (Colton), Neah Bay, Waterville,” Kast said. “I think that they belive that they can compete and beat anybody. As long as we’re still in, we’re still believing we can bring home a trophy.”

The Lions and Tigers tip-off at 9 a.m. in the Spokane Arena.

Box Score

MLCA/CCS 14-11-9-20-4: 58

Colton 9-11-16-18-7: 61