TACOMA — Hala Corral exited Prairie’s locker room underneath the Tacoma Dome grandstands Friday, and her first statement echoed a lot of her players’ thoughts.
“Can you believe it?” the coach said.
For some Falcons, they couldn’t. They couldn’t believe they just won a down-to-the-wire overtime thriller, 67-62, against Kamiakin, especially coming in a 3A state semifinal game.
And for others, they could, as their one game away from achieving their goal. Friday’s win sends Prairie (24-2) to Saturday’s 3A state championship game against Mt. Spokane.
Junior Kendyl Carson had a game-high 23 points and senior guard Cassidy Gardner added 21, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1 minute, 10 seconds left in overtime to give the Falcons the lead for good.
Her heart still racing, Gardner was nearly speechless postgame finding the words to explain what playing for a state title means for her and her teammates.
“We finally worked for this opportunity,” she said, “and now it’s ours to go get.”
Prairie is no stranger to this stage. The program now has 13 state championship game appearances and looking for title No. 7 at 3 p.m. Saturday.
But this stage — winning inside the Tacoma Dome — is relatively new to these Falcons. They won their first game at the dome in four years in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Edmonds-Woodway behind 11 3-pointers.
On Friday, No. 4 Kamiakin gave Prairie all it could handle.
Like a heavyweight battle, Prairie and Kamiakin battled throughout all 32 minutes and the 4-minute extra session. Neither team led by more than four in the second half, and the final 90 seconds of regulation featured two ties and three lead changes.
Carson’s basket off the glass gave Prairie a 54-52 lead with 33 seconds left in regulation, but Kamiakin responded with Butler-bound Oumou Toure’s putback with inside 6 seconds left. The teams traded field goals each of their final three possessions of regulation.
Prairie’s final-possession heave was no good.
In overtime, the back-and-forth battle didn’t let up. The teams traded leads five times — Carson hitting 1 of 2 free throws, in addition to a combined three 3-pointers the final 2 minutes.
One of them was Gardner’s go-ahead with 1:10 remaining. That gave Prairie the lead for good at 63-61. From there, Gardner and Brooke Walling (14 points) went 4 of 4 at the line.
Carson had perhaps her best game of her young Prairie career Friday. She had 11 of her 23 points after halftime, shooting 11 for 17 for the game. She also had 13 rebounds.
The junior said she never dreamt of playing on a stage like the Tacoma Dome as a player growing up in Juneau, Alaska, arriving into Prairie’s program last year. But she knows the history and tradition.
This season is her first on varsity for the all-league guard.
“I live for these moments,” Carson said. “The bright lights, and all the people. … We wanted to go out and play our game and win it for each other. I know the seniors have been thinking about it since their freshman year; they’ve been dreaming about this for three years now, and I want to help and contribute to them.
“And now, for a state title.”
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PRAIRIE 67, KAMIAKIN 62 (OT)
KAMIAKIN — Symone Brown 8, Regan Clark 2, Rylie Clark 14, Alexa Hazel 20, Oumou Toure 18, Salee Westermeyer 0. Totals 26 (7) 3-6 62.
PRAIRIE — Allison Corral 3, Kendyl Carson 23, Brooke Walling 14, Mallory Williams 2, Hannah Clouse 0, Meri Dunford 4, Cassidy Gardner 21, Haley Reed 0. Totals 25 (7) 10-14 67.
Kamiakin 15 15 8 16 8 – 62
Prairie 13 16 8 17 13 – 67
