And not just because the Thunderbirds dealt Woodland an old-fashioned whoopin' in the Southwest 2A District semifinals at W.F. West High School.

"They have two 6-footers that are athletic, and when they missed, they got the rebound," he said. "Andrews is just so tough off the dribble. It is frustrating when you bust your tail and force an off-balance shot and it goes in, or they just get a putback. It was a typical Woodland effort, but Tumwater ... if they play like that at state, they can beat anybody."

The T-Birds seemed genuinely ---- but pleasantly ---- shocked at the lopsided outcome. Greenwell said that "it might have looked easy, but it wasn't."

"Against a great team like Woodland, yes, I was surprised," said Andrews, the Evergreen 2A Conference Most Valuable Player. "They have awesome 3-point shooters, they transition quickly, they're a great team. We just worked on closing out on their shooters and played a half-court defense that allowed us to get back."

As effective as Tumwater's defense was, the blowout was more a product of lethal half-court offense. When the T-Birds were on, they were ... on, especially in the third quarter, when they hit five straight shots and 8-of-11 overall to pull ahead 49-34.

And when they were off, they kept grabbing rebounds until they found the bottom of the goal. Schwegler (16 points) had three of Tumwater's nine offensive rebounds and grabbed nine total as the T-Birds enjoyed a 28-17 advantage on the glass.

It helped Tumwater breeze to victory despite a typical juice-squeezer performance by Woodland's pressure defense, which forced 19 turnovers thanks to usual suspects Chelsea Wilder (five steals), Alysha Kofstad (three steals), Megan Peabody (three) and Ashley Kofstad (two).

"Both of our posts woke up and played like they are capable of playing," Greenwell said. "We knew what we needed to exploit." The Beavers' nicest stretch of basketball came at the end of the first quarter after Tumwater had raced to a 12-4 lead. A steal by Wilder led to a fast-break bucket by Peabody (nine points), and Alysha Kofstad had a steal and layin before another Wilder theft created another Peabody breakaway.

But Andrews, setting a theme, answered with a deep 3-pointer and a pull-up jumper to create some breathing room. Natile Trice (six points) cut the T-Birds' lead to three points with a putback to start the second quarter, and a basket by Wilder pulled Woodland within four points, 24-20, at the 4:33 mark.

But a spate of four turnovers and personal 6-0 run by Schwegler allowed Tumwater to build a 32-23 lead at the break, and its third-quarter blitz clinched the T-Birds their third consecutive trip to state.

They'll face River Ridge at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Kelso in a rematch of the 2006 3A district title game. River Ridge beat Black Hills in Tuesday's other semifinal, while Ridgefield edged W.F. West 51-46 and Hockinson beat Aberdeen 42-30 in loser-out games.

update wrote on February 28, 2007 2:28 PM:"Actually...Black Hills beat River Ridge in the other semi-final 35-32, according to the WIAA website. So it will be a Tumwater-BH district Championship and River Ride will play Hockinson for the fourth and final spot to the State tourney."

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