YAKIMA — The W.F. West girls basketball team saw its season come to an end Friday afternoon at the Yakima Valley Sundome, losing 56-44 to Othello in a loser-out consolation semifinal.
“We played about as hard as you could, and our effort was great,” WFW coach Kyle Karnofski said. “I thought our execution was great. I’m so proud of them, not even today, but all year. We’ve dealt with a lot, and that’s a really good group.”
The Bearcats finish the season with a 20-8 record.
“We really, really had a good year,” Karnofski said. “League champs, district title game, made it to State, one game away from a trophy. That’s a heck of a run, and it was a lot of fun.”
Thursday afternoon, the Bearcats fell victim to a tough stretch in the second half. This time, it came earlier with Othello going on a 24-3 run over a nine-minute stretch between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second.
Julia Dalan scored eight points in the opening four minutes for W.F. West, but was held scoreless the rest of the half, in a span that saw the Bearcats score just seven points in 12 minutes. By the time she got back on the scoreboard, early in the third quarter, the Huskies had a double-digit lead.
“They started shifting over to help hard on Julia,” Karnofski said. “We made the adjustment at halftime and late in the third quarter to find some backside stuff.”
The adjustments started to take effect in the second half, and Dalan finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with 13 rebounds and four blocks.
Morgan Rogerson, the lone senior on WFW’s roster, pitched in eight points, six boards, and a pair of assists. Amanda Bennett added six points.
But while the Bearcats started to figure out their offense coming out of the locker room — scoring 14 points in the third quarter after managing just 15 in the entire first half, and adding 15 more in the fourth — the Huskies matched them shot for shot.
W.F. West got what had been a 13-point deficit at halftime down to five in the fourth, but every time it scored, Othello came right back and answered with a bucket of its own.
Dalan and the Bearcat zone held things down inside, but the Huskies did their damage with jump shots, scoring 33 of their points outside of the key, including hitting five 3-pointers.
“They shot it well,” Karnofksi said. “Every contested long two — that we hoped they’d shoot — they ended up making. They’re a good team, they’re good shooters, they play that style of basketball.”
Past that, Othello went 13 for 16 from the free-throw line.
W.F. West is set to return four of its five starters next season, as well as Carlie Deskins, who missed the latter half of the winter with an injury. The Bearcats graduate Rogerson, who wraps up her high school career with 65 total wins and a fifth-place state medal from last season.
“She’s just a great leader, does all the little things,” Karnofksi said. “You can’t replace her. One senior, that’s tough. She means the world to the program, and she’s a really fun kid, she’s really good at what she does. We’re really going to miss her.”
