Justine Joudrey was feeling it during the afternoon shootaround before Evergreen’s playoff game Friday night.
She kept feeling it during the game.
Joudrey made her first three shots in the opening quarter, then remained solid throughout the contest, leading Evergreen to the Class 4A bi-district girls basketball tournament.
Evergreen dominated the second half to top Battle Ground 58-39 in a playoff for second berth from the Class 4A Greater St. Helens League to the bi-district.
The Plainsmen (15-6) will play at Kentwood (16-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“I had a totally new mindset,” said Joudrey, who finished with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. “I’d been having bad starts to games. I just gotta be me. Just be me, and I’ll be fine.”
Her quick start helped the rest of the Plainsmen find their confidence. Jessica Chatman had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Tori Conley had 10 points and nine boards.
Battle Ground, the third-place finisher in league play, kept hanging around second-place Evergreen in that first half, going into the locker tied 21-21.
The Plainsmen, though, opened the third quarter with a 12-2 spurt — the 12 coming from Joudrey, Chatman, and Conley.
Battle Ground never recovered. Chatman had a 3-pointer in the run, and Joudrey had a three-point play.
The Plainsmen did not want to be in this position. They had their sights on the league championship. Skyview, however, beat Evergreen on Monday to take the title and the top seed to bi-district.
“Monday was really upsetting to us,” Joudrey said. “We just had to get over being upset and get a new mindset. Today, it feels awesome. We came into the season hoping to get to state.”
The Plainsmen can still reach that goal. Eight of the 16 teams in the bi-district tournament will advance to the state’s opening-round games.
The bi-district tournament also is a double-elimination format.
If they play defense like they did against Battle Ground, the Plainsmen know they will have a chance.
The Tigers got 11 points from Nikki Bond and seven points and eight rebounds from Haley Grossman, but all of the Tigers struggled from the floor.
Battle Ground (13-8) made 11 of 46 shots, 24 percent. Evergreen outscored Battle Ground 37-18 in the second half.
Evergreen played without Shamerica Scott, who received a cut to the forehead in the loss to Skyview on Monday.
