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Montana, Washington Girls to GNC Final

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Montana, Washington Girls to GNC Final

Montana vs Oregon. Alex Goff photo.

Washington will play Montana in the Great Northwest Challenge girls final Saturday afternoon.

All of that was finalized Saturday morning when Washington tool care of a lucky Arizona team 17-5.

The format of the event was for all eight (originally) teams and then six to play three pool matches, with the top two based on record making the final.

However, with late pullouts that left a gap in the schedule. Someone had to play only two games and since. Montana was the host team, they took the bye. Of course that's  a two-sided coin as getting games against other select sides is the point of the event, but the bye also might leave you with a strange tiebreaker situation. Had Arizona lost to Colorado, we would also have seen some more complications.

As it was, Arizona came to the rescue. Their surprise win over Colorado and Washington's nervy win over Oregon meant that both Colorado and Oregon entered Saturday 0-2 and out of contention for the final.

That left Washington at 2-0, Montana at 2-0 (wins over Oregon and Arizona), and Arizona at 1-1. This made it all very clear. Arizona beats Washington then Arizona and Montana make the final (Arizona having head-to-head over Washington and Montana getting points difference over Washington).

If Washington won, then they and Montana would be the only two-win teams. And that's how it ended.up. pace by tries from the speedy and elusive Alina Whalen, Abigail Escalante Sanchez and Kiona Hill the Loggers took Saturday morning's game 17-5.

Hill, Whalen, and scrumhalf Ashley Paez, have been a deadly combination, while Azariah Walker leads an imposing tight five.

 

For Montana, flyhalf Dawsyn Brewer has operated the attack nicely-she is, after all, Montana's player.of the year. Tries from Ashley Jomer, Kylie Baigent, Sadie Allred, and two from Brewer saw them shut out Arizona on Friday to, as it turned out, clinch a spot in the final.

With flanker Lucia Schlapfer and hooker Jasmine Cartwright getting work done, Montana is a formidable team.

Washington plays Montana at 3pm MT for the GNC girls U19 championship.