MONTESANO–At one point of the season, not too long ago, the Montesano Bulldogs resembled anything but the type of team the program had become accustomed too.

Trailing in the 1A Evergreen League standings with a host of new and inexperienced faces, the Bulldogs were thought of as a long shot to reach the district final and a spot in the state tournament, spots it had become familiar with occupying during head coach Mark Mansfield’s seven-year tender.

That all changed after a Jan. 9 league loss to Hoquiam as Montesano has gone 8-1 since then, including a 38-27 win over Columbia (White Salmon) in a 1A District 4 semifinal game on Wednesday in Montesano, securing a seventh-straight state-playoff berth under Mansfield and the program’s fifth-consecutive appearance in the district-title game.

“It’s a credit to the girls,” Mansfield said. “Their not afraid to work hard and accept the challenge. It speaks volumes of them and their work ethic.”

“I was really excited,” Monte guard Makena Blancas said of the win. “Not many people really believed in us. It’s really nice for us to prove them wrong.”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Makena Blancas (21) celebrates with Ashlyn Lytle after Lytle scored and was fouled during the first quarter of Montesano’s 38-27 victory over Columbia (White Salmon) in a 1A District 4 semifinal game on Wednesday in Montesano.

In Wednesday’s game, Montesano’s defense set the tone.

The Bulldogs’ active, in-your-face style of defense forced three turnovers in the first 2:30 of the game to jump out to a 7-0 lead and led 18-6 on a pair of Jillie Dalan free throws with 30 seconds left in the first quarter.

Monte would push the lead to 16 on two more Dalan free throws with two minutes gone in the second quarter before the Bruins would end an approximate seven-minute scoring drought with a layup from senior post Sara Miller to make it a 22-8 game midway through the period.

That would spark a short Bruins run as turnovers started to mount for Monte as well, allowing CWS to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 22-12 by halftime.

In the second half, Monte’s defense never let up.

The Bulldogs maintained a double-digit lead throughout the third quarter – one in which Monte’s defense forced seven turnovers – and held as much as a 16-point lead at 28-12 after a pump-fake bucket from Makena Blancas off an outlet pass from Dalan at the 4:09 mark of the frame.

The Bruins would get as close as 10 points when a Halle Kock 3-pointer made it a 30-20 game with just under six minutes left in the game.

But Monte immediately responded with a Dalan jumper and later got a bucket in the low post from freshman Addisyn Williamsen followed by an offensive rebound putback from Blancas to go up 36-22 with 4:21 to play.

The Bruins were held to just one field goal the rest of the way as Monte advanced to another district-championship game and state tournament.

“It means a lot,” Dalan said of reaching the state tournament for her fourth season as a Bulldog. “All the other years, it was kind of routine for us to get there. This year, it was really up in the air. … I don’t know if people expected much from us because our team was so different. Obviously, we came through and did enough to get there and it’s exciting.”

“It didn’t start off great this season and we knew it was going to take a little time just because we had some new faces in different spots,” Mansfield said. “This last month and a half, they’ve bought into working against each other hard in practice, making themselves better in practice and seeing it in games. There was a comment a few weeks ago where one of them said, ‘I really hope all this hard work pays off.’ And we said, ‘If you keep working, it will pay off.’”

RYAN SPARKS | THE DAILY WORLD Montesano’s Jordyn Perry (2) passes while defended by Columbia’s Bailey Rickman during a 38-27 victory in a 1A District 4 semifinal game on Wednesday in Montesano.

Dalan led Monte with 13 points, eight rebounds and five steals.

Blancas also finished in double digits with 10 points to go along with a team-best three assists, despite fouling out late in the fourth quarter.

Monte shot 29% from the field on 15-of-51 shooting and made 7-of-8 free throws (64%), with Dalan going a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe.

The Bulldogs defense held the Bruins to 11-for-37 shooting (30%) and forced 34 turnovers.

Montesano held a 32-23 rebounding advantage while committing 30 turnovers in the game.

“We just never gave in defensively,” Mansfield said. “We just kept making it difficult for them to score and when we do that, we figure we’re going to be in games. … Just a great defensive effort tonight.”

“Our defense didn’t really slow down. I think that helped us keep them where they were,” Dalan said. “When we turn it on, our press is really effective. Our guards are just flying around, hands up, and us in the back, we really don’t have to do anything because they do all the work. They get the steals and we just finish at the basket and it’s effective. They do a really good job.”

Monte advances to the district-title game, where it will face Seton Catholic for the fourth-consecutive time in the district final at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Centralia High School.

The Bulldogs lost to the Cougars 46-32 last season after beating Seton Catholic in two previous meetings for the district title.

“We’ll be a big underdog to Seton, but we’ll just go out and play,” Mansfield said. “These girls don’t back down from the challenge. We took some lumps early but we’ve always said that if we learn from those things, it will help us in the long run and I think it has.”

Underdogs or not, Monte believes it has just as good a shot as any team in the district tournament to walk away with a championship trophy.

“I feel like not many people had all the hope in us that we had for ourselves,” Blancas said. “It’s nice to prove people wrong. We all had faith.”

Columbia (White Salmon) 6 6 5 10 – 27

Montesano 18 4 8 8 – 38

Scoring: CWS – Miller 13, Posini 4, Kock 3, Carlock 2, Camacho 2, Barajas 2, Rickman 1. Montesano – Dalan 13, Blancas 10, Lytle 7, Perry 6, Williamsen 2.

PHOTO BY HAILEY BLANCAS The Montesano Bulldogs earned a trip to the district-championship game and state tournament with a 38-27 victory over Columbia (White Salmon) in a 1A District 4 semifinal game on Wednesday in Montesano.