As the KingCo 4A girls championship game unfolded, it was evident that the Newport Knights never got comfortable.

They missed lay ups. They made turnovers. Shots wouldn’t drop. Three-point attempts went as airballs.

Garfield held the Knights scoreless in the second quarter and then held on during a late Newport rally for a 48-41 victory and an automatic berth into next week’s state tournament.

The Bulldogs led 21-9 at halftime, blanking the Knights in the second quarter as Newport shot just 4 of 30 from the field in the first half.

“We obviously struggled there in the second quarter,” said Newport coach Travis Whitaker, “and we dug ourselves too big a hole.”

Garfield (14-9) also limited the opportunities of Newport leading scorer Betsy Kingma. Kingma, who had scored 33 points in the last meeting between the two teams, scored just three points in the first half and finished with 11.

“They just kept sending people at her,” Whitaker said. “They had a fresh body on her the whole time. She never really got settled into the game.”

Chanel Cambronero helped Newport claw back into the game after halftime, hitting three deep three-pointers in the third quarter and another in the fourth as the Knights (18-5) trailed twice by just four points, but could get no closer.

Newport missed eight free throws in the fourth quarter.

Nyasha Sarju scored 14 points, Renee Dillard-Brown added 10 and Shaunice Robinson chipped in 10 to lead the balanced Garfield offense.

Cambronero and Caitlin Bennett each had 12 points for Newport.

The Knights will host Skyview of Vancouver in a winner-to-state, loser-out game tomorrow night (Saturday) at 7 p.m.

“The biggest thing for us is getting to state,” Whitaker said. “A KingCo title? That would have been nice too, but the biggest thing is state and we have another chance at that tomorrow.”