CORVALLIS - As the final minute ran down in the Class 3A girls state championship basketball game on Saturday night, a vocal North Bend student section started chanting "We're No. 1! We're No. 1!"

Indeed the Bulldogs are.

For the first time ever in a girls team sport - and for the first time in any team sport since the wrestling team captured the crown in 1979 - a North Bend squad is state champion.

The Bulldogs used a dominant second half to beat Marist 59-40 and affirm their spot as the state's top team.

"We're No. 1. We're the undisputed state champions," said North Bend senior Janee Olds, the brightest star in the biggest game in the program's history.

The point guard scored 23 points - all after the first quarter - and grabbed 16 rebounds, just six fewer than the entire Marist squad. For good measure, she added four steals and five assists, while being named a unanimous selection for the all-tournament team.

But just like North Bend's earlier tournament wins against Cascade and Burns, the victory Saturday was about far more than one player. And it was enjoyed by an enormous Bulldog crowd.

Hundreds of fans made the three-hour drive to Corvallis to see the game. And they celebrated in unison, giving the starters a standing ovation when they came off the floor late in the game and forming a tunnel for the players to run through after they received their trophy and championship medals.

"I was so proud of everybody - the fans for coming to support us," said Ashley McCrea, another senior on the squad.

The Bulldogs gave the fans plenty to celebrate, though it took a half for the team to warm up.

North Bend led 10-8 after the first quarter, with McCrea and Kellie Holmstedt supplying all the points.

The Spartans led much of the second quarter, starting when Kristina Neet nailed a 3-pointer to open the period. But Neet, another all-tournament first-team selection, got into foul trouble, joining teammate Lori Renner on the bench with three first-half fouls, and the Bulldogs rallied for a 24-22 halftime lead.

Olds finally got going offensively to score six of North Bend's final eight points in the half and Alysha Moore gave North Bend the lead for good at 23-22 by scoring inside on a great pass from Holmstedt.

See Bulldogs, page B3

"We didn't start off real solid," said North Bend coach Mike Forrester. "We played very tentative. At halftime, I felt lucky we were ahead."

But even if North Bend's offense wasn't clicking in the first half, another key element - rebounding - had already been established in North Bend's favor.

The Bulldogs had a 13-3 rebounding edge in the first quarter and a 22-8 edge at halftime. By the end of the game, North Bend had 52 rebounds and Marist just 22.

McCrea said Forrester's pregame instructions were for the posts to play like they did the first two games, when McCrea, Moore and Kaila Morris dominated inside with their defense and rebounding against strong post players.

"(He said), 'You've got inches on these girls - see what you can do with inches above them.'" McCrea said.

What the Bulldogs did was dominate the glass. Several times, North Bend had three shots on one possession. By the end of the game, McCrea, Moore, Holmstedt, Olds and Heidi Davison all had at least six rebounds. Holmstedt and Davison each had eight from their wing positions.

After North Bend's defense and rebounding kept the Bulldogs in the game in the first half, Olds dominated on offense in the final 16 minutes.

"We went to the 1-4 offense and Janee Olds took over the game," Forrester said.

After Marist's Rachel Copeland had a free throw to pull the Spartans within 24-23, Olds had a three-point play, scoring while being fouled by Renner (Neet already had picked up her fourth foul).

Then Olds scored on another drive, but Marist's Tana Loftin answered with her own hoop.

Davison and McCrea hooked up on a slick fast-break basket and Morris followed up another hoop by Loftin with a basket on a pass from Olds.

Neet answered with her second, and final, 3-pointer of the game, but Holmstedt scored on a pass from Olds.

After Copeland scored again, Olds started a key stretch for North Bend with a three-point play on another drive to the hoop. Then, just as she had in the win over Cascade, North Bend's Carli Bowman hit a huge 3-pointer to build North Bend's momentum and its lead.

"It gave us that separation," Forrester said. "When she hit that, everyone thought we would win it."

McCrea scored inside to give North Bend a 10-point lead before Lostin nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Any chance the shot would give the Spartans momentum to get back into the game dissipated quickly.

Marist couldn't hit a field goal in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs scored the first 13 points - the first 11 on free throws - to put the game out of reach.

"They went on a nice run and we were never able to recover," said Marist coach Makana Apo, who cited his team's poor rebounding and shooting as reasons the Bulldogs pulled away.

Marist shot just 5-for-26 from the floor in the second half (19.2 percent). The Spartans didn't score in the quarter until Lydia Gust hit a free throw with 53 seconds remaining - after both coaches had pulled their starters and given their younger players a chance to get into the championship game.

Gust's free throw ended a 21-3 North Bend run.

Moments later, it was time for the Bulldogs to celebrate, their second-half domination complete.

"I think we just gained confidence in ourselves," said Davison. "The first half was just to get a feel for the game."

"We had more composure in the second half," Olds said. "And our defense - what can you say about our defense?"

Holmstedt was her typical pesky self on defense, with six steals. But Forrester also was delighted with the play inside by McCrea, Moore and Morris.

"To win up here, I felt we needed to have (outstanding) guards and posts," Forrester said. "I knew we had the guards.

"All three posts did a phenomenal job. They were as big as the guards in all three games."

McCrea played by far her best basketball of the season in the tournament, and had 12 points and a couple great steals on hustle plays on Saturday.

"I knew I needed to step up big, whether they needed me or not," McCrea said.

Holmstedt also had 12 points for the Bulldogs in Saturday's win. Davison, who didn't feel well all day Saturday, had just two points, but was named to the first-team all-tournament squad after her strong effort in the first two games, including making 12 straight free throws and scoring a game-high 20 points in the win over Cascade.

After Saturday's win, she said the victory gave validity to North Bend being ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press Poll, even though the Bulldogs had doubters.

"Even though we were ranked No. 1, I don't think anyone except us and our fans thought we'd win it," Davison said.

Yet North Bend beat Cascade - a team that, like the Bulldogs, entered the tournament with just one loss - and then toppled the defending state champion in Burns to reach the title game.

"Our first two games ... were like championship games," Davison said.

And when it was over, North Bend finally had broken through to win a girls state title after several near misses. In the previous 10 months, North Bend's girls had finished second in the state in tennis, cross country and swimming, taken a third-place trophy in track and field and finished fifth at the state volleyball tournament.

The Bulldogs had extensive individual success, including McCrea winning the state and Junior Olympic titles in the javelin last year. She said Saturday that those don't mean nearly as much as the basketball crown.

"That was the best team win," she said. "It beats any other championship I could ever win. They're my family.

"I have so many people to share it with forever."