Turner’s monster game leads Burbank to SunDome

Taylor Turner was unrelenting, posting game highs with 38 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Columbia-Burbank High School Girls basketball team to a 65-58 overtime win over No. 15 Seattle Christian on Saturday in a loser-out state regional game.

The senior guard/post was humble as could be after that big of a performance in that big of a game.

“I couldn’t do it without my teammates, they’re the ones that get me the ball,” Turner said. “We work as a team. Everyone really played well, everyone stepped up.”

The victory advanced the No. 10 Coyotes (23-1) to the round of 12 at the Yakima SunDome next week, their second consecutive appearance at the tournament. Burbank took sixth in state last year, and is making a consecutive trip for the first time since appearing in nine straight state tournaments from 2001-09.

“I think that a lot of the emotion I showed (after the game) is because I’m just extremely proud of the kids that we have and the hard work that they put in,” Burbank coach Jay Aune said. “We had a great year last year. These kids have really build off of what we did last year, so we deserve to be a little bit emotional after that.”

The Coyotes will play No. 7 La Center at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Sophomore guard/forward Serianna Anderson led Seattle Christian with 24 points, but pretty held in check after a white-hot start.

Anderson’s first 3-pointer gave Seattle Christian its first lead at 8-6 near the mid point of the first quarter, and her third trey — which splashed through just before the buzzer — gave her 16 points in the first eight minutes and the Warriors a 22-15 lead heading into the second.

But the Coyotes mixed up their defense after the first period break, and elected to have Turner play man against Anderson. That proved hugely effective, as Anderson didn’t score another point by halftime, and the Warriors only scored six points in the second quarter.

“We stopped playing help defense on (Anderson),” Turner said. “Basically I guarded her and tried to keep her from getting the ball and getting open. Yeah, she definitely was a threat.”

Turner led the Coyotes on an 11-2 run to start the second period, and had them up 29-28 at halftime. She finished the first half with of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The Warriors controlled the first five minutes of the second half — their biggest lead of the game was 38-30 with 2:40 left in the third — but the Coyotes battled back after that, going on an extended 18-8 run that stretched deep into the fourth quarter and saw them lead by two points several times in the last couple minutes.

SC’s Kelli Ronish was given an inbounds pass under the Warrior’s basket with four seconds to go, and converted a layup to tie the game at 50-all. She missed an and-1 free throw that would have likely won it for Seattle Christian.

The Coyotes didn’t bat an eye.

Seattle Christian led once in the overtime period, 53-52 with 2:45 to go, but it was all Burbank for the most part. Turner scored seven points in overtime and helped the Coyotes end the game on a 13-5 run.

Aune said he and the Coyotes had no doubt they would come out on top once the game went to overtime.

“It’s one of those things where we are who we are,” he said. “We’re 1-0 this week, and we’re looking to play next week. And that’s really all that matters right now.”

Turner almost single-handedly outrebounded the Warriors, and the Coyotes as a whole won the battle on the boards 51-28. Michelle Maine had nine rebounds and six steals for Burbank.

This story was originally published February 25, 2017 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Turner’s monster game leads Burbank to SunDome."