As he walked off the Bend High court Friday night, Todd Ervin glanced at the scoreboard. The Lava Bears coach shook his head in disbelief and uttered two words:

“Holy moly.”

That was the only reaction Ervin had after his No. 6-seeded Bears, who had lost by 14 points at Lebanon back in December, dismantled the No. 11 Warriors 57-30 in the first round of the Class 5A girls basketball state playoffs, advancing Bend to its sixth state tournament in seven years.

Bend (21-4 overall) will play in Tuesday’s quarterfinals at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis against No. 3 Central, which defeated 14th-seeded Hillsboro 34-31 on Friday.

“They just stepped up tonight. What did we shoot?” Ervin wondered. The answer was 58.3 percent. “Man. That was just a great team effort. The effort on defense I loved, and then to shoot the ball as well as we shot it is gorgeous.”

Kylee Roath hit a floater on Bend’s first possession of the game, and the Lava Bears never lost their lead. Their defense was swarming and their offense, aside from 16 turnovers, was nearly flawless. Bend was 7-for-10 shooting in the first quarter to build a 16-6 lead, while Lebanon had nearly has many turnovers — six — as field goals attempted — seven.

The Lava Bears were patient offensively, always seeking out the best available shot. Maybe it was Roath driving the baseline for a layup, or Kaycee Brown delivering an interior pass to set up a Cambree Scott layup, or Trinity Barudoni drilling one of her four 3-pointers. At will, it seemed, Bend was getting — and making — the shot it wanted.

“We’re a team where we have to rely on each other,” Roath said. “It’s not just like one player who we can rely on. Having each other’s back out there and being confident — like if you pass it to another player, they’re going to do what they need to do with it — that confidence in each other is what we did today.”

The Lava Bears extended their early lead in the second period, as Roath hit back-to-back shots to help Bend close the half with an 11-2 run to head into the locker room ahead 27-13. It was more of the same in the third quarter, as the Bears erupted for a 15-2 surge to grab a 44-19 advantage, overwhelming Lebanon (18-7) on both ends of the floor.

“This was a really good team that we knew was going to give us everything we wanted,” said Ervin, whose team lost at Lebanon 50-36 in each team’s fifth game of the season. “Their post is so tough and they have a couple other (players). They kind of make you pick your poison on whether you want to defend 3-point shooters or defend the post. We knew we had our hands full. We just concentrated on doing what we needed to do, and it worked out.”

Lebanon’s standout post, Ellie Croco, was the focal point of Bend’s defense, as at least three Lava Bears crashed to the paint to deny Croco a clean look at the rim every time she was on the block. Croco did finish with 11 points. But the Warriors could not make Bend pay for leaving the 3-point line open, as the visitors missed nine of their 11 3-point tries and were just 30 percent shooting overall.

Roath paced the Lava Bears with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Barudoni totaled 14 points. Scott added 11 points, six boards and three assists.

Bend rides a 12-game winning streak — the past seven by an average of 23.7 points — into yet another trip to the state tournament, a year after advancing to the semifinals and placing fifth at the final site.

“It gives us confidence of our potential as players and how good we can be,” Roath said of Bend’s latest victory. “This is just the start of it. We still have however many games we have left at state. I think if we can just build from this game, it gives us confidence and makes us want to work even harder.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0307, 
glucas@bendbulletin.com