YAKIMA – It was history in the making Wednesday at the Yakima Valley SunDome as the Selah girls ended a 45-year state tournament drought by defeating Fife, 56-42.

Junior Elise Kingston led the way with 18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, and senior Braylee Pendleton pitched in 16 points, helping the Vikings return to the quarterfinals for the first time since 1981 — back when they were still in Class AAA.

“We’re all really happy right now because this is the first time in a long time that we’ve gotten this far,” said Pendleton, a four-year varsity contributor for the No. 8 seed Viks. “I like how we weren’t satisfied just making it to state. We wanted to make it as far as we possibly could, and we hope to keep it going.”

With the win, Selah (20-8 overall) earned a spot in the 2A quarterfinals against CWAC rival Ellensburg at 2 p.m. Thursday. The Bulldogs won all three meetings this season, including a 63-44 win in the district tournament on Feb. 10.

Despite Ellensburg’s state pedigree, Pendleton and her teammates are confident they can hang with the No. 7 seed Bulldogs, who have reached the 2A championship game in each of the past four seasons, including titles in 2022 and 2023.

“They’re a great team and we know them pretty well,” she said. “They’re really well coached, but so are we. We have all the tools to beat them, and we definitely believe we can. We just have to stay organized and limit our mistakes.”

The Viks left room for improvement in Wednesday’s win over No. 9 seed Fife, shooting 33.9% (21 of 62) from the field and turning the ball over 12 times. They also struggled to finish at times during the second half, allowing Fife to go on a 10-0 run and cut the lead in half with 2:45 remaining.

“We didn’t play our best game, and we know we can improve,” head coach Ray Navarro said. “But at the end of the day, we ended someone else’s season and earned ourselves two more games at the state tournament. We’re not going to look back and remember the things we could have done differently. We’re going to remember the win.”

From the opening tip, Selah looked like the superior team, smothering the Trojans on the way to a 26-14 halftime lead. After Fife scored the first hoop of the second half, the Viks went on a 13-3 run that was capped by a Kingston steal and assist to Makenna Pepper.

Kingston delivered a three-point play midway through the fourth before Brynn Bettis stole the ball and went in for an easy layup to make it 48-28 with 5:15 remaining. But the Trojans continued to press until the end, forcing Selah to make its free throws down the stretch.

But the battle-tested Vikings were unfazed, sinking all six of their free throws in the final two minutes.

“We’re an experienced group and that’s what helped us finish it out,” Navarro said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but this time of year, we’ll take a win any way we can get it.”