Wasilla girls 61, Dimond 46 (FINAL)

Skyler Nuss scored a fast-break lay-up off a pass from Jenna Johnson to open the scoring in the fourth quarter, giving the Warriors a 49-34 lead with 5:35 left to play in the game.

Nuss added a free throw on Wasilla's next posession to push the lead to 50-34.

Keihanna Engle made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 50-35 midway through the quarter.

But Johnson answered with a three pointer from the quarter to push the lead to 53-35 with 4:07 left to play.

Leisl Brown helped the Warriors equal their biggest lead of the game with a pair of free throws with less than four minutes to play, putting Wasilla up 55-35 with 3:11 left.

Engle netted a pair of free throws to make it 55-37 with under three minutes remaining.

Two more Engle freebies cut the Wasilla lead to 55-39 with 2:24 left in the game.

The Lynx then got more help from the free throw line, as Symphony Bagsby hit one more to make it 55-40 with 2:16 left.

Engle then hit a three to briefly cut the lead to 55-43, but Cottle followed that up with a bucket of her own to again push the lead to 14.

Another Engle lay-up made it 57-45 with 1:36 left in the game.

That was as close as the Lynx would get. Johnson added a pair of free throws to make it 59-44.

Dimond's Colleen Fairchild made one of two free throws to cut the lead to 59-46 before Wasilla added two more free throws down the stretch to provide the final margin of victory.

THIRD QUARTER:

Wasilla opened the second half like it ended the first, with hot shooting. Carlee Naczi gave the Warriors a 36-19 lead on the oopening posession of the third quarter with a midrange jumper.

Dimond answered with a pair of free throws.

Kelsey Cottle continued to dominate down low, getting a short jumper to put Wasilla up 38-21 with 6:38 left in the third. Johnson followed with a free throw, then missed the second. But Cottle was again there inside, putting in Johnson's missed second try to push the lead to 41-21 with 6:20 left in the third.

Dimond cut the lead to 41-23, but Johnson again answered with a jumper of her own to make it 43-23.

Keihanna Engle's put-back of a missed Dimond free throw made it 43-25 with four minutes left in the quarter.

The teams traded baskets to make it 45-27 with 2:30 left in the quarter.

Lauren Hanley cut the Wasilla lead to 15 with a deep three-pointer, which led Warriors coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax to call timeout with 1:44 left in the third and the Warriors holding a 45-30 advantage.

Colleen Fairchild cut the Wasilla lead to 45-32 with a deep jumper late in the quarter, and Katile Anderson followed that with a jump shot of her own that came after an errant Dimond pass bounced off an official.

But Wasilla answered once again, this time with a midrange jumper from Skyler Nuss to end the fourth quarter with the Warriors leading 47-34.

FIRST HALF:

Wasilla led Dimond 34-19 at halftime.

Carlee Naczi led Wasilla with 12 points in the half, while Jenna Johnson scored 10 and Kelsey Cottle added eight. The Warriors had 12 steals in the half and scored 14 points off 14 Dimond turnovers. Wasilla shot 40 percent from the field in the half, including a 3-for-7 showing from behind the three point line. Skyler Nuss and Celeste Colegrove each scored two for the Warriors in the first half.

Dimond was led by Keihanna Engle, who scored seven first-half points on 3-of-9 shooting for the Lynx, which shot just 34.6 percent in the opening half.

FIRST QUARTER:

Wasilla ended the first on a 9-2 run to take a 21-11 lead after one quarter of play.

Dimond opened the game with a lay-up by Lauren Hanley. Wassila evened things up on a pair of free throws from senior guard Jenna Johnson.

Johnson then gave Wasilla its first lead of the game with a three-pointer to give Wasilla a 5-2 lead. The Warriors pushed the lead to 7-2 on a lay-up by Carlee Naczi, forcing the Lynx to call timeout.

A Dimond free throw cut the lead to 7-3, and the Lynx cut it to 7-5 on a lay-up by Hanley.

The teams traded baskets to make it 9-7 before the Warriors called timeout with 3:15 left in the first.

Dimond tied the game on an inside basket by center Katie Anderson, but Johnson quickly put Wasilla back in front with a free throw.

Kelsey Cottle gave the Warriors a 12-9 lead with a short jumper in the lane.

Wasilla went up 15-9 on a Naczi trey, which the Lynx followed up with a short jumper by Keihanna Engle to make it 15-11. Johnson followed that up with a long two-pointer to give the Warriors a 17-11 advantage.

Naczi ended the quarter with a fast-break lay-up just before the buzzer to help the Warriors take a 21-10 lead after fhe first eight minutes of play.

Wasilla pushed its lead to 19-11 on a nice inside lay-up by Celeste Colegrove off the post entry pass from Johnson.

SECOND QUARTER:

Naczi hit her second three-pointer of the afternoon to help the No. 5 seed Wasilla take a 24-11 lead over No. 4 seed Dimond early in the second quarter of the ASAA Alaska class 4A state basketball championships at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Lauren Hanley ended a 15-2 Wasilla run to cut the lead to 24-13 with 6:45 left in the first half.

Naczi followed that up with a steal and lay-up to put Wasilla up 26-13 with 5:49 left.

The Warriors got a follow-up score inside by Kelsey Cottle to push the lead to 28-13 with 5:05 left.

Dimond cut the lead to 28-15 on an inside bucket from Katie Anderson with just under three minutes in the half.

Cottle again got a put-back at the 1:40 mark to again push the Warriors' lead to 15 before Engel answered with a lay-up to make it 30-17 with one minute left.

Cottle's and Engel again traded inside buckets to make it 32-19 in the closing seconds of the half.

Wasilla then capped an impressive first half with a steal and fast-break lay-in by Johnson to put the Warriors up 34-19 at the break.