CASTLE ROCK — The Seton Catholic girls basketball team knew it had a tall task of it on Friday night against Montesano.
And that’s not just the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-1, University of Minnesota-bound senior McKynnlie Dalan.
Montesano showed off its depth and talent to go on a 23-0 run in the first half and ran away from Seton Catholic 72-36 in the Class 1A District 4 championship game at Castle Rock High School.
“We knew what we were going up against,” Seton Catholic coach Joe Potter said. “We knew this could happen. Of course, we didn’t want it to happen. They’re tough, long, athletic. They do that to most everybody. I thought we’d play a little bit better than that.”
The Bulldogs’ aggressive defense aimed to take away the Cougars’ perimeter game, then Monte’s size outmatched Seton inside.
After building a 20-8 first-quarter lead, the Bulldogs scored the first 20 points of the second quarter en route to taking a 47-17 halftime lead.
Seton Catholic, which lives by making 3-pointers, didn’t hit its first of the game until two minutes left in the second quarter with Monte up 40-8.
Senior Anna Mooney scored all nine of Seton’s points in the second quarter. She would finish with 16 of Seton’s 36 points.
“She makes everybody look better,” Potter said of Mooney. “They know who she is. They made it tough on her. But she never quit.”
McKynnlie Dalan finished with 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers. Evanjillie Dalan added 17 points, and Mikayla Stanfield added 13 for Montesano (21-3).
The Cougars (20-3) came into the game hoping that their 20-win season would be enough to earn a top-8 seed into the state tournament when seeds are announced on Sunday, assuring the Cougars a trip to the Yakima SunDome.
“That won’t happen now,” Potter said. “We were hoping if we could stay close or beat them, we could sneak in that top eight. But we’ll probably be somewhere around No. 11, 12, 13.”
If Seton can get seeded 11th or 12th, they likely will play close to home in the opening round of state next weekend.
“This gets us ready for our next game,” Potter said. “Now we know what we have to aspire to get to, and hopefully we can get a little bit better next week.”
HOQUIAM 52, COLUMBIA-WHITE SALMON 44: Chloe Kennedy scored six points in the overtime period to send Hoquiam to a win in the district third-place game, sending the Grizzlies to the state tournament.
Kennedy’s 3-pointer gave Hoquiam a 42-40 lead with 53 seconds left in regulation. But Maggie Bryan’s basket with 19 seconds left tied the game 42-42, forcing overtime.
Hoquiam never trailed in the overtime period.
MONTESANO 72, SETON CATHOLIC 36
SETON CATHOLIC (20-3) — Keira Williams 5, Kingsley Williams 0, Anna Mooney 16, Hannah Jo Hammerstrom 0, Alyssa Mancuso 2, Tiffany Rose Sheldon 2, Annie Marchalar 0, Kasey Clifton 5, Hailey Hammerstrom 6. Totals 16 (4) 0-4 36.
MONTESANO (21-3) — Jaiden King 6, Mikayla Stanfield 13, Maia Young 0, Jordan Karr 7, Vanna Prom 8, Ava Schrader 1, Evanjillie Dalan 17, McKynnlie Dalan 20. Totals 27 (7) 15-22 72.
Seton 8 9 7 12—36
Monte 20 27 16 9—72
