Washougal opened the Class 2A girls state basketball tournament Wednesday with a 52-36 win over East Valley (Yakima) at the SunDome in Yakima.
The Panthers, who improved to 18-6 on the season, advanced to play Burlington-Edison at 3:45 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Burlington-Edison is the No.5 seed in the tournament and Washougal is the sixth seed.
In Wednesday’s opener, the Panthers jumped out to a 30-14 lead in the first half. Washougal’s biggest lead in the half was 20 points when Ashley Gibbons scored on a layup to make the score 29-9 with 1:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Washougal made 11 of its 21 shots in the first half (52.4 percent), including four of its seven attempts from 3-point range. Tiana Barnett scored eight of her 10 points in the first two quarters, making 2-of-3 from the field, including both of her 3-point attempts. Barnett was also 2-for-2 at the free throw line in the first half.
Mason Oberg added seven of her 10 points in the first half for the Panthers.
Washougal’s largest lead of the game came in the third quarter when Barnett scored on a layup to put the Panthers up by 23 points, at 39-16, with 6:03 left in the period.
Beyonce Bea finished with a game-high 12 points for Washougal. Bea made five of her seven shots from the field, including 2-of-3 from behind the 3-point line. Bea also had a game-high 11 rebounds and also added four steals and two assists.
Barnett had eight rebounds to go with her 10 points and Oberg had a game-high five assists to go with her 10 points.
