Photos by Debbie Raney

The Crane girls basketball team became state champions after defeating North Douglas in the title game 59-39, in the 2024 OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A Girls Basketball State Championship held in Baker, Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 29-March 2.

The Mustangs came into the Elite Eight tournament as the No. 1 seeded team and a date with Imbler in the quarterfinals.

The girls jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter. The Panthers were able to cut the lead down to nine with almost three minutes left before the Mustang offense took off. Crane held the halftime lead, 32-16. 

The Mustangs wouldn’t relent in the second-half, holding Imbler to just seven points for the rest of the game for a 60-23 win.  

Kaitlyn Siegner led the Mustangs with a double-double, scoring 23 points, grabbing 10 rebounds, to go along with five steals and three assists. Taya Nelson scored 17 points and six rebounds. Kortney Doman scored 10 points, grabbed six rebounds, along with nine assists and seven steals. Elaia Idoeta scored four points and seven rebounds, while Ava Bowen had three points, three assists and two rebounds.

Crane then met St. Paul in the semifinals, on Friday, March 1. 

Both teams fought hard in the first quarter, with the score lead changing three times before the Mustangs started to pull away. At the end of the first quarter, Crane held a 19-15 advantage. By the end of the second quarter, the Mustangs had built up a 30-point lead as the girls took a 48-18 score into halftime.

The second-half saw a repeat of the second quarter as the Mustangs continued to dominate to a 66-33 win and advanced to the title game.

Siegner finished with another double-double, scoring 25 points and 10 rebounds and added with three steals. Doman finished with a double-double as well, scoring 15 points and 15 steals, to go along with seven rebounds and six assists. Nelson finished with eight points and two steals, Idoeta scored six points, and Bowen finished with five points and six rebounds.

The No. 1 Mustangs met the No. 2 North Douglas Warriors for the title game. 

Both teams fought hard in the first-half, where the lead changed six times, with the Mustangs taking the advantage into halftime, for a 27-24 lead.

The Warriors hit their first three-pointer of the second-half to tie the game with 7:41 left to play, but it was all Mustangs from there on out. The girls built up a 13 point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Crane kept taking advantage of North Douglas’ miscues and increased their lead to 20, for a final 59-39 win for another state title.

Siegner’s double-double led the Mustangs, scoring 29 points and grabbing 16 rebounds. Nelson finished with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal. Doman scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had four assists and one steal. Bowen finished with six points and one rebound, while Idoeta had nine rebounds and one steal.

The girls finished a perfect 30-0 in coach Tomika Doman’s first season as head coach.

Kortney Doman and Kaitlyn Siegner were unanimously named to the First Team All-Tournament Team.