PENDLETON - Once again, the Willamina Bulldogs girls basketball team treated the audience at the Pendleton Convention Center to some last minute heroics as the ‘Dawgs came from behind in the fourth quarter to pull past the Central Linn Cobras 35-27 in the semifinal round of the OSAA Class 2A state tournament on Friday.

The Bulldogs (30-0 overall) will face Myrtle Point at 6:30 p.m. today in the championship game. If Willamina wins, the Bulldogs will set a new state mark with a 31-0 overall record.

The name of the game in Friday's match up was defense, defense, defense. The ‘Dawgs, known for their explosive scoring power, only held a 14-11 lead at halftime.

"It was ugly," said Willamina coach Jerry Grant. "I don't think we've ever scored less than 14 in a quarter before. But we'll take the win. That's the most important thing. If we can find a way to win in an adverse situation, that's the mark of a good team. And that's us."

"Defensively, Central Linn was pretty physical," Grant said. "To be honest, we haven't had teams come out that far to bother us before. We were a little bit out of sync. We made some adjustments in the second half."

"It was a physical game, but it was a physical game the first time we played Central Linn," said Willamina's Meghan Zimbrick. "We knew what was coming. Everybody got banged up but we were expecting to.

"We knew before the game that they would play tough defense. All their girls are strong and we knew we were going to have to play tough. We played well. We played tough. We did what we had to do to win."

Zimbrick opened the game with a layup but Central Linn came back and knotted the score. Zimbrick sank two free throws and Crislyn Chewning drained two foul shots and a layup for an 8-2 Willamina lead. But Central Linn's top scorer, Jenny Booth, closed the quarter with a 3-pointer and one free throw to bring the Cobras to within 8-6 at the end of the first.

Willamina's Brittni Wilson drew first blood with a basket in the second quarter and Randi Keyser scored a layin for the ‘Dawgs for a 12-6 lead. Central Linn didn't give up, however. The Cobras sank one free throw and scored a basket to come within 12-9. The ‘Dawgs' Brittany Woolley sank two free throws and Central Linn scored a jumper to end the quarter with Willamina ahead 14-11.

Zimbrick scored on a jumper to open the third quarter but Central Linn went on a 9-0 run - featuring two baskets and a 3-pointer by Booth - to take a 20-16 lead. Chewning sank two free throws to shrink the lead to two but the Cobras scored to bring their lead back to four. Willamina's Brittany Woolley sank a jumper and Chewning drained a foul shot and the ‘Dawgs trailed 22-21 at the end of three.

The Bulldogs may have had their share of free throw shooting troubles in the past but they shot 17-25 (68 percent) in Friday's game. The ‘Dawgs were 10-14 in the fourth quarter.

"I told the girls that if we shot 70 percent, we'd win basketball games," Grant said with a smile. "And that's nearly what we shot tonight. The kids were surprised, they said, ‘Oh, the coach was right.' They finally listened to me."

Brittni Wilson sank two free throws to open the fourth quarter and put the ‘Dawgs up 23-22 but Central Linn sank a free throw of its own to knot the score again.

Then Willamina's leading scorer, Chewning, fouled out with 4:14 left in the game and the score tied at 23. But the Bulldogs didn't miss a beat and Willamina's Randi Keyser and Zimbrick each drained one free throw to move the ‘Dawgs back in front 25-23. Booth sank two foul shots to tie the game at 25 but that was as close as the Cobras would come for the remainder of the game.

"We needed somebody who could handle the ball so we put Catrina (Shell) in for Crislyn," Grant said. "She has played a lot of minutes for us. I knew when she came in that she'd be able to handle the situation. And she did. All year long we've had kids step up."

Zimbrick put Willamina back in front for good with the first field goal of the quarter with 1:36 remaining in the game. Zimbrick's layup started off a run of seven unanswered points for the ‘Dawgs, including a free throw from Wilson, a putback from Woolley and two free throws from Keyser, and Willamina led 32-25 with 36 seconds left in the game.

"I was tuned into the game and didn't think about making my shot," Zimbrick said of her basket. "I was thinking that now we needed to play tough defense. We didn't want to let them get the offensive rebounds."

Zimbrick led the ‘Dawgs with nine points, nine rebounds and three steals. Chewning had seven points, two rebounds, one assist, five steals and one blocked shot. Wilson had six points, five rebounds and one assist. Woolley also scored six points and added eight rebounds, one assist and four steals. Keyser had five points, six rebounds, one assist and two steals. Catrina Shell chipped in two points and had one rebound and one steal for Willamina.

"Our bench helps us. Kambry (Dodson) came in and played some minutes for us," Grant said. "Catrina came in. Brandi (Shell) came in. Those kids came off the bench and filled a huge hole for us. They kept us going defensively; they kept that steadiness and that composure. I was very thankful for them."

Booth led Central Linn with 13 points, well below her 17-point average. Richan Modderman added six, Andrea Harris four and Marlyn Empen and Amber Reeser each chipped in two points for the Cobras.

"We felt like that was a key for us to win the game - to shut Booth down," Grant said. "We always wanted to make sure we had someone in her face. When she gets wide open looks, she's dangerous. So we wanted to make sure we minimized those opportunities for her. And we did."

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