Falcons fulfill season-long goal with state championship

On Saturday the Prairie girls basketball team checked the box on a goal they set last fall by winning the Washington 3A State Championship.

The Falcons defeated the Wildcats of Mt. Spokane 37-35 at the Tacoma Dome for the 7th state championship in program history.

Although the post-game celebration would seem to most a reflection of the team’s win in a championship game that seesawed from the opening tip to final buzzer, for the coaches and players, it was a celebration of a journey they set out on last fall — even years ago for some.

“This is what we’ve been working toward for four years now,” said senior point guard Cassidy Gardner, moments before grabbing a pair of scissors and helping to cut down the net after the game.  

The girls even marked themselves with their top priority, literally, by writing in sharpy on their leg the letters T, G, and R: “One Team, One Goal, One Ring.”  

“We set this plan out on Nov. 12,” said Head Coach Hala Corral after the game. “We had a team dinner. We laid out our goals and this was it.”

Along with putting together a list of tough opponents during the preseason, Corral also made a point of having the girls play in two games without a wall directly behind the basket to simulate the Tacoma Dome’s setting; they practiced in a gym with the same atmosphere before heading to Tacoma last week as well.

“I’m just happy for the kids. They’ve worked, honestly, for three years for this,” Corral said of her team’s season-long goal coming to fruition.   

“I’ve never felt a feeling like this before,” said senior Brook Walling, who was named MVP of the 3A tournament. “I’m going to remember this forever.”

Weathering the storm

Mt. Spokane may have well been playing pinball in the first half with the number of offensive rebounds they collected. Time and time again, the Wildcats were given second-chance opportunities as the Falcons struggled to box out. The Wildcats ended the game with 18 offensive rebounds while the Falcons only had six.

Still, led by Walling’s 11 points (nine of which were 3s), the Falcons were only down by seven at halftime, 26-19.

“They were killing us on the boards in the first half,” said Head Coach Hala Corral. “Their one kid had more rebounds than our whole team. So, we just said, ‘if you want to win this game you have 16 minutes to shut them down on the boards and we’ll win.’ We know our defense leads to good offense. We knew they (Prairie) didn’t feel good in the first half — you could see it with their body language — because our defense wasn’t good. In the second half, they stepped it up, played amazing defense.”

Prairie came out of the locker room a different team, crashing the boards and limiting Mt. Spokane’s outside looks on defense. Without all the extra opportunities, the Wildcats began to struggle. After scoring 13 points in each of the first two quarters, they fell flat and only managed nine points through the last two.

“We knew we needed to rebound better and pick up our defense,” Gardner said. “We knew if we did that we’d be where we wanted.”

The Falcons outscored the Wildcats 13-5 in the third quarter, giving them a 32-31 lead heading into the fourth.

Prairie’s offense slowed in the fourth, only managed five points, leaving the bulk of the work to be done on the defensive end — which is exactly what they did. The Wildcats only managed four points in the fourth, beginning to tighten up and miss even the open looks they were getting.

Walling attributed their ability to play loose in the second half, and especially in a tense fourth quarter, to confidence in their defense.

Corral was quick to point to strong on-floor leadership.  

“We just have really really good leadership on this team,” said Corral. “They just kept telling each other, ‘don’t worry, don’t panic, keep calm.’”

In a game that had 12 lead changes and was tied three times, Falcons players, coaches, and fans were finally able to sigh with relief when the final buzzer rang and Prairie was named the 3A state champions.