FOREST GROVE, ORE. – Sutherlin used a big third quarter to come back from a four-point halftime deficit and defeat Seaside 57-45 Friday afternoon in the semifinals of the 4A state tournament. The victory sends the Lady Bulldogs to their fourth-straight berth in the state championship game.

Taylor Stricklin torched the Seagulls with 16 of her game-high 24 points in the third period, hitting four 3-pointers, and that completely turned the game around.

“After the second one went in, I thought, OK I’m on a roll, and after the third one I knew I was hot,” said Stricklin, who finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulldogs (22-5) took a 46-36 lead into the final quarter and decided to run time off the clock, and it worked.

“We got that 10-point lead and we’d never seen them play man-to-man so we tried to spread it and they didn’t know how to respond to it,” said coach Josh Grotting.

Seaside started fouling and when they finally got to the 1-and-1, Sutherlin got the ball in the hands of Stricklin and Harlee Baker who combined to convert 8-for-11 from the line to put the game away.

Baker finished with 18 points, including three 3-pointers and 5-of-7 from the line. She added seven rebounds to her stat line as well.

Freshman Kiersten Haines also had three 3-pointers and 11 points, eight of those in the first quarter.

All-state selection Maddi Utti had 19 points for Seaside (19-5).

The Bulldogs outrebounded the Seagulls 31-28 and kept them from getting many second shots.

“I thought we did a really good job, they would just get one look, and I thought we rebounded the ball pretty well,” said Grotting.

“That is a very good team,” said Stricklin. “Maddi Utti is very hard to stop, she’s an incredible player.”

Sutherlin will face Banks in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening at Forest Grove High School going for their fourth straight state championship.

SEASIDE (45) — Maddi Utti 7-14 5-7 19, Villegas 7-13 0-0 14, Ideue 2-3 2-2 6, Kiser 1-7 0-0 3, Hoekstre 0-1 2-2 3, Garhoefer 0-2 0-0 0, Babbitt 0-6 0-0 0, Bodner 0-2 0-0 0 Smart 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS — 17-48 9-11 44

SUTHERLIN (57) — Taylor Stricklin 8-20 3-4 24, Baker 5-10 5-7 18, Haines 4-9 0-1 11, Sorenson 2-3 0-0 4, Porter 0-0 0-0 0, Masterfield 0-0 0-0 0, Moser 0-0 0-0 0, TOTALS—19-42 8-12 57
TOTALS — 14-45 6-12 35

Seaside;16;15;5;8;—;44
Sutherlin;18;9;19;11;—;57

3-Point Field Goals — Suth. 11 ( Stricklin 5, Haines 3, Baker 3), Seaside 1, (Kiser)

Rebounds: Suth, 31 (Stricklin 10) Seaside 28 (Villegas 6)

Assists: Suth. 15 (Sorenson 7) Seaside 8 (Utti 4)

Fouls – Suth 15, Seaside 9

Fouled out : None