TACOMA – When most of the pom-poms have been tossed aside, the face paint stained in some bathroom sink, the Snohomish Panthers do their best work.
They actually seem to prefer it when most of the fans have gone home, when the Tacoma Dome has thinned out to an elite group of die-hards.
When only the night owls are still roaming, Snohomish’s girls basketball team does its best work.
For the second night in a row – make that, late night – the Panthers tipped off after 9:30 p.m. and showed no signs of fatigue. The night owls made their move in the second half, taking a 13-point lead and barely hanging on for a 49-46 victory over Richland in the quarterfinals of the 4A state tournament Thursday.
The good news is that the Panthers (24-1) will play the late game again, this time in a semifinal matchup with top-ranked University of Spokane (26-1). The Titans handed Snohomish its only loss of the season before the Panthers’ 24-game winning streak set up tonight’s rematch.
The tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Then again, each of the past two nights saw similar start times get pushed back an hour by long afternoon games.
“We like night games on Day 3 and Day 4, I’ll say that,” Snohomish coach Ken Roberts said, referring to the late games played in the winner’s bracket. “I guess we’re kind of in a routine now, so we’ll take it. It does make for a long wait during the day, though.”
Thursday’s game wasn’t always perfect, as the Panthers needed a 17-2 second-half run to take a 13-point lead with 3:52 remaining in the game … only to see it disappear down the stretch.
Richland scored 11 unanswered points and eventually went on a 16-2 run over less than three minutes of play to take a 46-45 lead with 48 seconds to play.
Snohomish regained its lead on an Emily Cassidy free throw with 30 seconds remaining, and then Richland missed the potential game-winning shot with two seconds to go. Snohomish’s Sydney Benson grabbed the rebound, drew a foul and hit two free throws to account for the final margin.
“Last year we had to hit a 3 at the end just to tie that team, then we won in overtime,” Roberts said. “They’re a great team. I don’t have anything bad to say about them. They made a great comeback.”
Benson led Snohomish with 20 points, including 12 in the second half. She added eight rebounds and was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. Daesha Henderson added nine points for the Panthers.
After falling behind 24-20 at halftime behind a perimeter game, the Panthers came out in the second half and started banging away inside. Cassidy, a 5-foot-10 power forward, and the 6-foot-1 Benson combined for 10 of Snohomish’s 15 points in the third quarter, and the Panthers turned up the defensive heat to hold Richland to four points in the period. Snohomish closed that quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 35-28 lead heading into the final period.
The momentum continued to swell as the Panthers’ lead got as big as 13 points, at 43-30, before Richland got hot. Turnovers on three consecutive Snohomish possessions helped the Bombers go on an 11-0 run in just over two minutes of play. That cut the lead to 43-41 with 1:20 remaining.
The teams got into a free-throw shooting contest from there, combining to hit 10 the rest of the way. Lori Conrad gave Richland its only lead of the final quarter on a 3-pointer with 48 seconds to go, at 46-45. Benson tied it with a free throw, then Cassidy added the go-ahead shot with 30 seconds to go.
Conrad’s jumper from the free-throw line fell short to clinch Snohomish’s place in the semifinals.
Now they’ll get a rematch with the team that beat them in December.
“They’re a great team – one of the best teams in the state I’ve seen in a long time,” Roberts said of University, which beat Monroe to advance to tonight’s semifinal. “We just have to go play. It’s probably the first game since the opener that we’re not favored.
“We’ll see what happens.”
At Tacoma
Richland 12124 18- 46
Snohomish1281514- 49
Richland- McCoy 21, Conrad 8, McKeirnan 5, Briggs 8, Landon 2, Weitz 2. Snohomish-Henderson 9, Angell 7, Benson 20, Cassidy 5, Best 7, Nicholson 1. 3-point goals -McCoy (R) 3, Conrad (R) 2, Henderson (S) 1, Angell (S) 1. Records – Richland 23-4, Snohomish 24-1.
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