In a slog, all second-seeded Ellensburg has to do is turn to its defense to win games

Bulldogs' offense is so-so early, but defense carries team to 56-31 Class 2A regional-round victory over Washougal

YAKIMA – When your margin for error is seemingly as wide as the nearby Yakima River Canyon, you can shrug off the offensive follies the No. 2-seeded Ellensburg girls basketball team suffered through in Saturday’s Class 2A regional-round game against Washougal at Davis High School.

Heck, you can even laugh about ‘em.

"Oh my gosh it was painful," chuckled Bulldogs star senior guard Dylan Philip after Ellensburg rode its suffocating defense to a 56-31 victory over the seventh-seeded Panthers and into Thursday’s quarterfinals in the SunDome.

Saturday’s misfires on the proverbial make-those-in-their-sleep shots only prevented the Bulldogs from recording another victory with a running clock. They certainly didn’t come close to threatening their unblemished record that now stands at 23-0.

"We do so many layup drills and then we miss the layups and I’m like, 'What do we do here?'" Ellensburg girls coach Jeff Whitney said.

What they do is rely on a defense that, including Saturday, has allowed just seven opponents to reach 30 points, and only one of those edged past 40.

"As a player, I would not want to play against that defense and the way they run," Whitney said. "They just go, go, go and sometimes we have to call a timeout to say slow, slow, slow."

Added senior Katie Blume, who matched Philip for team-high honors with 12 points: "Our defense is definitely I think our best asset and we all love playing defense, so we know when we’re off or a little nervous and our shots aren’t falling or we can’t get good shots, our defense is gonna pick up the slack."

Ellensburg’s chintzy defense forced seven turnovers before Washougal attempted a shot and limited the Panthers to just four first-quarter points as the Bulldogs led 13-4 after one quarter.

Washougal made a brief run in the second and trimmed Ellensburg’s lead to six at 18-12. The Bulldogs, however, responded with an 16-0 run that spanned much of the second and third quarters.

They cruised from there.

"The kids listen to what our coaches are saying and then they go out and do it," Whitney said.

The victory keeps the Bulldogs from a repeat of 2020 when they also entered the regional round seeded second but were upset by W.F. West, 60-47. at Davis. Ellensburg would eventually take sixth in the SunDome with injuries and illness taking their toll by the fourth day of the tournament.

"For the seniors that are here now, they remember it because they were all young and that team (W.F. West) was very experienced," Whitney said.

Senior Jaiden Bea scored a game-high 19 points and added 11 rebounds for the Panthers, who fell to 16-4 and face a loser-out matchup Wednesday in the SunDome