Columbia Basin defeated Skagit Valley in the Sweet 16 by a score of 65-47. Nekha Roehl lead all scorers with 17 while Ezrah Ray added 14 points and 8 rebounds.
For most of the first quarter, this one looked like a fight. Then Roehl went to work, and Columbia Basin made it anything but.
The Hawks entered Friday night's neutral-site contest at 21-7 on the season, but a scrappy Skagit Valley squad — winner of 11 of their last 14 conference games — had no intention of being a footnote. The Cardinals hung within two points through the game's opening stretch, getting consecutive three-pointers from Grace Trichler to keep the score knotted at 15-13 heading into the second quarter.
That's when Columbia Basin shifted gears entirely.
Roehl, was the engine of a second-quarter surge that effectively decided the game. She converted five of six attempts from the floor in the period alone, turning turnovers into transition layups and orchestrating a paint-first attack that Skagit simply couldn't contain. By the time the half buzzer sounded, the Hawks led 33-23, and Skagit had already exhausted two timeouts trying to slow a team that refused to be slowed. Columbia Basin shot a blistering 69% from the floor in the second quarter and scored 12 of its 18 points off Skagit Valley turnovers.
The third quarter removed any remaining drama. Ray drew four consecutive free throws off aggressive drives and finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds on the night. Hailey Jamison added back-to-back fast-break layups in the opening minutes of the third, pushing the lead to 41-25, and the Hawks eventually stretched their advantage to 19 at the period's end — the game's largest lead to that point, at 53-34.
Sadie Tanner quietly constructed one of the evening's most complete stat lines: 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 6 assists, and 2 steals in 31 minutes, rarely forcing anything and consistently finding the open cutter or the right skip pass. Her six assists were matched by no one on either roster.
Columbia Basin finished with 44 points in the paint compared to Skagit Valley's 12, and converted 26 points off turnovers. The Hawks' 16 assists against just 25 field goals underscored how thoroughly they moved the ball — this was a team performance from start to finish.
Skagit's Alyssa Larson led all scorers with 12 points, but the Cardinals shot just 32% overall and never found an answer in the paint.
Columbia Basin moves on to the Elite 8 where they will get a chance to avenge and earlier OT loss in preseason to West 1-seed Lower Columbia.
