The Prairie girls basketball team has always prided themselves on defense and it served the Falcons well on Friday.
Prairie clamped down on Gig Harbor in the fourth quarter to pull out a 42-35 victory in the third-place game of the 3A bi-district tournament at Rogers High School in Puyallup.
“Both teams played great defense,” Prairie coach Hala Corral said. “It was just a matter of who was going to turn the ball over less and go after the boards. We did a good job rebounding and not giving up second-chance points.”
Prairie (21-3) trailed by two after the first quarter, then outscored the Tides 13-5 in the second quarter.
With about four minutes to play in the game, Gig Harbor (18-6) pulled even, but Prairie answered with an offensive run and shut down the Tides with its defense.
Brooke Walling led the Falcons in scoring with 14 points and also had seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
Corral said she wouldn’t be surprise to meet Gig Harbor again in the regional round of the state tournament, which will be announced by the WIAA on Sunday.
“I always told (the team) there are three parts to the season and part three is state,” Corral said. “Tomorrow we start parparing for state with more intense practices. We will be ready to go.”
PRAIRIE 42, GIG HARBOR 35
PRAIRIE (21-3) — Meri Dunford 2, Allison Corral 5, Sydney Weber 6, Brooke Walling 14, Mallory Williams 7, Cassidy Gardner 8, Haley Reed 0, Lauren Vreeken 0. Totals 14 (5) 9-15 42.
GIG HARBOR (18-6) — Kendall Liberty 0, Anna Stewart 0, Brynna Maxwell 17, Abby Emery 0, Meghan Edwards 2, Sydney Langworthy 5, Grace Neil 0, Maddie Willett 11. Totals 13 (4) 6-8 35.
Prairie 10 13 4 15–42
Gig Harbor 12 5 5 13–35
