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Pick the cliche you like best -- survive and advance, winning ugly, records are meaningless in March, never assume anything ...

They all apply to the Concordia Panthers, the defending Class 4A state girls state champions.

Concordia broke loose from a tie game by scoring nine of the game's final 11 points the final 3 minutes, 21 seconds and eased past a scrappy and upset-mined Basehor-Linwood team 45-38 Wednesday night in a quarterfinal game of the 4A tournament at the Bicentennial Center.

The victory is the 50th in a row for the top-seeded Panthers (24-0) and sends them into Friday's semifinals and a game against Girard at 6:30 p.m.

Getting there, though, was anything and everything but easy against the eighth-seeded Bobcats (16-8).

"Our kids found a way to get it done for 50 straight games now and that's a heck of an accomplishment," Concordia coach Derek Holmes said. "I'm very proud of our kids.

"But we also know we're going to have to pick it up Friday night, there's no doubt about it."

How close was it?

The game was tied 10-10 after the first quarter, tied 19-19 at halftime, and Concordia led 30-27 after three quarters, thanks primarily to a 10-0 run late in the period. The rally erased a 25-20 Basehor-Linwood lead at appeared to have the Panthers on their heels.

A basket by Basehor-Linwood's Shelby Equels with 3:21 left in the game tied it 36-36. That's when Concordia finally took control.

The Panthers scored five unanswered points over the next three minutes for a 41-36 lead with 23.2 seconds left. It could have been more had they not missed five consecutive free throws, including the front end of two one-and-ones.

After Basehor-Linwood's Courtey Poe made two free throws with 17.7 seconds left, Concordia ended it with a pair free throws each by Chelsie Monzon and Karly Buer.

"You've got to give them credit, they really packed (their defense) in on us and forced us to move the ball around," said Buer, the Panthers' senior point guard who finished with 11 points. "We're not used to that. We're used to pounding it into the post and they did a good job."

Buer admitted to having some pre-game jitters despite having played in and winning last year's state tournament.

"There's always going to nerves the first game of state but that's over, hopefully, now and Friday we can go out and just play," she said.

Paige Champlin also scored 11 for Concordia, which shot 51.7 percent from the field (15 of 29) but had 16 turnovers -- 14 the first 21 minutes of the game before settling down.

Basehor-Linwood shot 34 percent (13 of 38) and had 12 turnovers.

"When you struggle offensively, you have to rely on your defense and we did that." Holmes said. "I thought we guarded pretty well on the perimeter all night. Our post defense wasn't very good the first three quarters."

Holmes was referring to Basehor-Linwood center Megan Bergstrom, who scored a game-high 19 points -- 15 the first three quarters. He last field goal came with 3:47 left and wasn't a factor as Concordia pulled away.

"She hit some tough baseline shot with (Melissa) Hartsell, our 6-2 girl, on her. You have to give her credit," Holmes said.

Buer was already looking ahead to Friday shortly after the game.

"That game is over, we've got focus on the next one and just keep going," she said.

* Sports editor Bob Davidson can be reached at 822-1404, or by e-mail at bdavidson@salina.com

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