YAKIMA -- The Selah girls were hoping the fourth time would be the charm against CWAC rival Ellensburg in Thursday’s 2A quarterfinal at the Yakima Valley SunDome.

A day after securing the program’s first state tournament victory in 45 years, the Vikings were riding high. But, as is often the case in the postseason, experience usually wins out. And the No. 7 seed Bulldogs have it in spades.

After falling behind early, Ellensburg leaned heavily on its three seasoned stars — junior Bella Standish and seniors Molly Moffatt and Ellie Markus — to roar back for a 57-48 win over the eighth-seeded Vikings to advance to Friday’s semifinals against another familiar foe in No. 3 seed Prosser.

“We felt like a run was coming; we just had to figure a few things out,” said Standish, who scored a game-high 24 points to go with 10 rebounds and three assists. “Once we came together and decided, ‘we’ve got this,’ we just locked in. That’s when the momentum started to shift.”

Ellensburg’s three team leaders accounted for all but four of the Bulldogs’ points to reach their fifth consecutive 2A semifinal. Moffatt hit four 3-pointers to finish with 14, and Markus delivered 15 points, including 12 in the decisive fourth quarter.

“We came out pretty slow, but in the end, we figured out what we were playing for and finished the job,” said Markus, who has played in the past three 2A title games alongside Moffatt. “After we decided that we were going to play for each other, we really picked it up.”

Selah led by three at the end of one and extended its lead to five points early in the 

second period. But the Bulldogs slowly chipped away, taking their first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Moffatt with two minutes left in the half. The Bulldogs atoned for their slow start, scoring 12 in a row to take a five-point advantage into the locker room.

Ellensburg held steady in the third behind nine points from Standish, and then blew the game open in the fourth with a 12-3 run to make it 51-35 with 4:25 remaining.

“Whenever we play Selah, our competitiveness always comes out,” Markus said. “We’re pretty similar, and it’s always a fight when we play each other. When you put two bulls together like that, they’re obviously going to butt heads.”

Selah was led by 20 points from junior Elise Kingston and 13 from senior Lily St. Mary, but the Viks will be limping into Friday’s consolation game against No. 5 seed Archbishop Murphy after senior Braylee Pendleton went down with an ankle injury.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, will hope to turn the tides against Prosser, a team they have lost to three times this season. Tipoff is at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

“This will be our fourth time playing them, and it’s going to come down to who wants it more,” Standish said. “They’ve gotten us three times, but we’re coming back for a little blood this time.”