PORTLAND— Sara Warnock flexed her might at both ends of the court Tuesday night. The 6-foot Greely senior played a physical style in defending Mountain Valley standout Ayla Allen at one end and outmuscled opponents underneath the offensive boards at the other.

Warnock’s two-way play in the fourth quarter proved to be the difference as the No. 5-Rangers prevailed in a 42-39 Western Class B quarterfinal victory over the fourth-seeded Falcons.

Warnock finished with 10 points while hauling down 12 rebounds. She scored seven of her team’s 12 points in the fourth quarter. With the Rangers (15-4) holding on to their three-point lead in the final seconds, she forced Allen into an errant 3-point attempt at the top of the key.

The Falcons (14-5) would have one final attempt with 0.2 seconds left, but McKenzie Paterson’s 3-pointer from the wing went wide.

“Sara just kept bringing it,” said Greely head coach Bill Goodman. “She played tough D all night. She just wanted it.”

With the Rangers up 33-31 early in the fourth quarter, Warnock grabbed the 3-point miss by Caroline Hamilton and put it in while being fouled to begin a conventional 3-point play. Moments later, she hit a pair of free-throw attempts and the Rangers increased their lead to 38-33.

Breana Roberts answered for the Falcons on a nifty dish from Allen to pull within three, but it Warnock responding by fighting off Allen under the basket and converting another offensive rebound.

“We focus on boxing out a lot,” said Warnock. “I make sure to get in front of my girl and push her as far back as I can.”

“She’s been our steadiest player,” added Goodman. “She didn’t want to lose.”

Paterson scored six of her seven points in the fourth quarter. She converted a pair of free throws and put back her own miss to cut the Ranger lead to 40-39 with 1:04 to play.

Goodman elected to have his team kill time off the clock with a four-corner offense to protect the lead. After working the ball around for almost 30 seconds, Megan Coale attempted a long jumper which hit nothing but air.

The Falcons crossed the mid-court area and began their offense before Falcon coach Rich Allen called a timeout with 15.5 seconds to play. The Falcons inbounded the ball underneath the basket to Roberts for a left-handed layup attempt which bounded off the rim and into the hands of Greely’s Caron Beaulieu who was quickly fouled.

Beaulieu calmly sank both free throw attempts to set the stage for Allen’s 3-point attempt to tie the game.

Allen was the only offense the Falcons could generate in the first half, scoring 11 of her team-high 14 points and pulling down seven of her 12 boards.

The combination of Warnock’s physical play and illness limited the junior to 1-of-6 shooting in the second half.

“She was battling the flu and threw up at halftime,” said coach Allen.

With Allen sitting on the bench in the third quarter, the Falcons received key contributions from Makayla White and reserve Christine Briggs. White scored all six of her points in the quarter while Briggs nailed one of her two treys to help the Falcons turn a 21-16 halftime deficit into a 31-30 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

“(We) showed the mental toughness that the program is building,” said Allen.

The Rangers also received a scoring lift from guard Caroline Hamilton who hit four shots from beyond the arc and finished with 14 points.

“We try to be a balanced team,” said Goodman. “When teams pack it in, we have to shoot the three.”

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