Ellensburg girls throttle Burlington-Edison for second consecutive year to earn back-to-back WIAA Class 2A titles

YAKIMA — The Ellensburg girls basketball team solidified its dominance Saturday night, trouncing Burlington-Edison, 56-28, in the Class 2A girls state basketball championship in the Yakima Valley SunDome.

For the second consecutive season, the Bulldogs won the 2A state title, went unbeaten again (this time with a 25-0 record), and did it to Burlington-Edison for the second straight year.

Their win streak is up to 51 games.

The Bulldogs are one of the most dominant girls teams in the state in recent years, regardless of classification.

The closest victory Ellensburg had this season was a 45-39 verdict over Class 4A Eastlake back on Dec. 3. Eastlake won the Class 4A state title Saturday night.

Every other Bulldogs win was by 10 points or more.

“This is a team that works really, really hard,” said Ellensburg coach Tim Ravet, who took over for Jeff Whitney last year after he stepped down. “I couldn’t ask Jeff for a better team to give me. He left the cupboard full.”

So which state title was better?

“I don’t think they’re comparable,” said senior center Olivia Anderson, who will play for the University of Washington next year. “I was just glad we could continue on Jeff’s legacy from last year. Winning a second straight title. It’s crazy. Surreal.”

Senior Rylee Leishman agreed.

“These two titles are way different from each other,” Leishman said. “This year we worked so hard to get here.”

Even though they held a 21-12 lead at intermission, the Bulldogs didn’t get going too much in the first half.

“Our standards weren’t being met in the first half," Ravet said. “We needed to put some pressure on them – a lot of pressure.”

Anderson thought it might be nerves.

“I think we came into the game antsy because we knew we had to play Burlington-Edison again,” she said. “We were overthinking things. So we started playing for each other.”

Ellensburg forced numerous turnovers, and opened the third quarter on an 11-0 run — altogether a 15-0 run that started at the end of the second quarter into the third.

Suddenly, it was a 32-12 lead, and the Tigers could never recover.

Anderson finished with a game-high 16 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocked shots — three of which came on one B-E offensive trip down the court.

But lest anyone thinks Ellensburg is all about its center, they’d have to be corrected.

Guard Jamison Philip added 14 points and had three steals.

And while Leishman scored just three points, she added five assists and three steals herself. Her constant pressuring of Tigers ball handlers also forced them to throw the ball away to Bulldogs defenders.

In all, Ellensburg forced 31 Burlington-Edison turnovers that the Bulldogs turned into 32 points.

“Our guard play has been phenomenal,” Anderson said. “I couldn’t do anything without them. I’m so thankful for all of them. I owe my defensive success to my teammates. They kept pushing me in practice. We practice defense all of the time. (Ravet) makes practice super, super intense. So it makes the games easier for us.”

Leishman returned the praise on Anderson.

“It’s easy for us guards because we know we have Olivia back there behind us to help,” Leishman said.

Alana Marrs added 10 points for Ellensburg. Chelan Holmes had nine points for the Tigers, who finished the season 20-7.

For seniors like Leishman, winning another title has been a dream come true.

“This is my senior year, my last with this family,” she said. “I love our chemistry and our friendship. Especially toward the end of the season, you could see we began to be a family.”

And they’ll stay that way for the rest of their lives.

NOTES — Anderson was named tournament MVP by the media and statistician members. Others who made the unofficial first team were Analise Slotemaker of Burlington-Edison, Othello’s Annalee Coronado, W.F. West’s Julia Dalan, and Ellensburg’s Philip. Making the second team were Sequim’s Jolene Vaasa, Burlington-Edison’s Lily Atkins, Prosser’s Laylee Dixon, Tumwater’s Kylie Waltermeyer, and Sequim’s Hannah Bates.