YAKIMA — Moments after the final buzzer sounded in the Yakima SunDome on Thursday, W.F. West coach Kyle Karnofski had his team huddle by the bench before leaving the court.
He spent about 30 seconds talking, and his message received nods in agreement from almost every single one of his players.
“I told them how proud I am to get to this point,” Karnofski said. “That’s a really good team. We fought and battled and did some good things. We were a couple of plays away.”
The Bearcats were within striking distance late against No. 3 Deer Park, but couldn’t overcome a 16-point second-half deficit in a 56-45 loss in a 2A State Quarterfinal.
The Bearcats got off to a strong start against the Stags, scoring the first six points of the game in just over two minutes.
The offense began to sputter, though, and Deer Park settled in and took the lead with a 13-3 run. A pair of threes from Dilyn Boeck kept W.F. West within two by the end of the first, but the offense continued to struggle deep into the second quarter.
The Stags ran into some foul trouble late in the second, and a flurry of free throws kept the Bearcats within six at halftime. They never got the chance to seize momentum out of the break, though, as it took Deer Park less than a minute to push its lead to 12.
“Our goal is to cut into it and chip, chip, chip,” Karnofski said. “That’s tough to come back from on a team that’s really good.”
A pair of Rhylee Beebe threes were the only field goals that W.F. West hit in the third. It was enough to keep the Stags from pulling away, but it wasn’t enough to make a dent in their lead. The Bearcats didn’t get closer than 10 the rest of the game.
“We did some stuff that might have been uncharacteristic,” Karnofski said. “We just didn’t follow through with what was maybe the best pass, or the best route, or we didn’t rotate defensively. That kinda hurt.”
W.F. West ended the night shooting just 27.1 percent from the floor, including a 19 percent mark from three, and it turned the ball over 19 times. Deer Park scored 22 points off of those turnovers, while the Bearcats tallied just 10 points off of the Stags’ 14 turnovers.
“The ideas, I think, were there,” Karnofski said. “Just execution wise, it wasn’t our A-plus game in that situation. You can’t do that against a team that’s really good.”
Boeck finished with 20 points and four rebounds, and Julia Dalan posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. She also blocked four shots. Beebe and Kaitlyn Chloupek combined for the other 11 points.
Jacey Boesel led the Stags with 20 points and 16 rebounds, while Brooklyn Coe hit four threes en route to an 18-point night.
With the loss, W.F. West (24-3) drops to the consolation bracket, where it will need to win on Friday to earn a trophy. The Bearcats will take on No. 8 Bainbridge at 2 p.m. on Friday, and the winner will advance to the 4th/6th game on Saturday morning.
“We’re not done,” Karnofski said. “Our goal is still a trophy, and that’s still on the table.
“Our job is still to come here and play for four days,” Karnofski continued. “Let’s do it for each other, our program, our community, our fans, and for ourselves. Because we’ve worked hard. We’ve earned the right to do that, but now we gotta go take what we’ve earned.”
