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YAKIMA, Wash. -- When locked in a desperate duel, Wapato's girls have learned to set aside frustration and impatience and wait for the full effect of their escalating pressure to take hold.

Even when the scoreboard doesn't show it, the fissures are there.

The crack, these Wolves believe, will surely come.

That's been Wapato's trademark all season and that's how this grit-armored team ended its historic year Saturday morning - cracking a tough West Valley of Spokane crew over the final minutes to seize a 43-37 victory that earned a fourth-place trophy in the Class 2A state tournament.

Trailing 36-33 with just over four minutes left in a game that had 11 lead changes, Wapato exploded with a 10-0 run and scored points on six of its final seven possessions to secure the program's first trophy since 1985.

The Wolves' stalwart defense, from which all the team's success as arisen during a 23-3 campaign, blocked three shots, forced three turnovers and held West Valley to 0-for-10 shooting during the deciding run.

"We always have a little run that we go on and we were waiting for it," said senior Briana Cordova. "We got that spark at the end and I think it was because we knew it was our last game together, the last time we'll ever play together. The way we finished - it was perfect."

Myleah Nason, another of Wapato's seven seniors, converted Darian Gasseling's backcourt steal into an 8-foot floater in the lane to put the Wolves ahead for good at 38-36 with 2:28 remaining.

"Our defense was there at the end," the 5-foot Nason said. "We were ready for today and ready to play hard for our crowd. It all came together for us at the end."

The big sequence came after Gasseling pushed the lead to 40-36 with 1:44 to play. Wapato pressured the in-bound pass and forced West Valley to call a timeout, narrowly missing a five-second violation. The Eagles finally got the ball in and settled into their halfcourt offense, but then missed four attempts at cutting into the deficit. Justine Sosa blocked the fourth try, Lexie Gomez grabbed the rebound and Wapato headed the other way.

The Wolves turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation but by that time over a minute had drained off the clock.

"What we've talked about all season long is that we're a fourth quarter team," said Wapato coach Joe Blodgett. "It's because we pressure, pressure, pressure. Eventually it wears a team down, both physically and mentally. We have to be patient and then take advantage when the chance comes. That's how we won today."

Forcing 19 turnovers and holding West Valley to 24-percent shooting was crucial because the Eagles, who ousted Selah and Ellensburg in the postseason, dominated in rebounding, 48-30. Erin Higbie, whose putback at the buzzer beat Burlington-Edison in Friday's loser-out round, had 17 rebounds with 13 on the offensive glass.

But Wapato found the answers.

Sosa finished with six blocks, one away from tying the tournament record, and a team-high 11 points. Lexie Gomez, Friday's hero with a career-high 27 points against Cedarcrest, sank three free throws in the final 27 seconds and had five points during the 10-0 run.

Wapato made a 3-pointer in each quarter with the baskets coming from four different players - Gomez, Cordova, Gasseling and Nena Araiza.

"That was a great West Valley team and they did a good job handling our pressure," Blodgett noted. "But we adjusted a little bit in the second half, applying a little more pressure on their guards. Once we get in a deny-mode, it lifts us emotionally and that was our spark."

Hoisting the fourth-place trophy was especially sweet for a senior-heavy team that had each of the last two seasons end in the regional round.

"We put in so much hard work and we got our big goal, which was to play here in the SunDome," Nason said. "We haven't won anything in so long - 1985 is a long, long time. It feels great to be the team that finally did it."