SPOKANE — The No. 2 seed Cougars punched their ticket to their third consecutive appearance in the 2B Girls State Basketball Tournament’s semifinals Thursday, defeating No. 8 Mabton 72-64 at the Spokane Arena.

Warden trailed by two at halftime but rallied in the second half to take down Mabton, who defeated the Cougars less than two weeks ago.

“I feel like this game was really mental for us,” Warden junior Lauren Chamberlain said. “We’ve played them before, we’ve beat them before and we’ve lost to them before. We know how they play. A lot of it was just mentally preparing ourselves.”

The Cougars found themselves in early 8-0 hole, as Mabton capitalized on turnovers to score baskets in transition. A three-point play by freshman Makenna Klitzke got the Cougar offense going, sparking a 15-2 run to take the lead late in the first quarter. Mabton closed out the quarter by taking the lead back, holding a 20-17 advantage.

“We just had to settle down, hit that first bucket and get in the flow a little bit,” Josh Madsen said. “They’re super quick, so we had to make some adjustments defensively. We gave up 20 points that first quarter, and once we made some adjustments we started playing a lot better defensively.”

Senior Lauryn Madsen opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to tie the game at 20, as the Cougar defense held the Vikings scoreless for the first four minutes of the quarter. Despite the strong defensive play, Mabton was able to take a 32-29 lead late in the first half; senior Carina Martinez connected on a three-pointer to tie the game, but a Mabton steal followed by a lay-up at the buzzer gave the Vikings a 34-32 lead at the half. 

“It was a punch in the gut,” Josh Madsen said. “We went in, and we were pretty upset – that should not have happened. We regrouped, settled down and then just battled in the second half.”

A 14-point quarter by Lauryn Madsen helped get the Cougars back the lead, going up 53-48 before the final eight minutes. Warden held a consistent three-to-four possession lead through most of the fourth quarter, walking away with a 72-64 win.

“We knew that we had the lead, so we didn’t have to rush any shots or make silly turnovers to get an open shot,” Lauryn Madsen said. “We really just tried to take care of the ball. If the shot was wide open – like a wide-open lay-in – we’d take it, but we didn’t need to force anything.”

Lauryn Madsen led the Cougars with 28 points in the win, followed by 14 points from Klitzke, 10 points from senior Aliza Leinweber and eight points from Chamberlain. 

“Last time we played them I had a pretty rough game shooting-wise, I just wasn’t on,” Lauryn Madsen said. “To go out there and hit my first couple shots gave me a lot more confidence, and the rest of the game I was ready to shoot whenever I had the ball.”

Warden faces No. 3 Okanogan on Friday in the 2B girls semifinals at 3:45 p.m. at the Spokane Arena. It’s the second time the two squads have met this season, with the Cougars winning the previous matchup 67-50 at home Dec. 7.

“It definitely helps, but some of our tougher games were back in December,” Josh Madsen said. “This feels like a new season right now, and this feels like a different team right now. We’ve got our swagger back, we turned the page (Wednesday) with some toughness and the mental approach to things.”

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.

Box Score

WARD: 17-15-21-19 72

MABT: 20-14-14-16 64

    Warden senior Molly Sackmann, in black, attempts a shot in the first quarter against Mabton.
  

    Warden freshman Angelina Buck (3) keeps her eye on the rim in the fourth quarter against Mabton.
  

    Warden junior Lauren Chamberlain, in black, lays the ball in for a basket in the first quarter against Mabton.