By Derek_Deis. Published Friday, March 5th, 2010

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Chenise Pakootas scored her only points of the game on a putback with five seconds left to lift Mead past Garfield 54-53 in the semifinals of the Class 4A girls state tournament on Friday night.

Cora McManus scored on a putback of her own with 25 seconds to go to put Garfield up one. Mead then had to inbound the ball under their own hoop with nine seconds left. Taylor Ingebritsen got the ball into Jazmine Redmon who missed, but Pakootas was there to clean it up with a jumper in the lane to send the Panthers to the state title game.

A desperation 3-pointer bounced off the rim at the buzzer for Garfield.

Mead rallied from down 11 in the fourth quarter to take the lead with just under 4 minutes left. A 3-pointer from Ingebritsen and a free throw from Jade Redmon gave the Panthers a 50-46 lead with two minutes to play. Garfield retook the lead, setting up the dramatic finish.

Jazmine Redmon and Kalee Junkermier each had 16 points to lead the way for Mead. Ingrebritsen added 12 for the Panthers.

Shaunice Robinson led Garfield with 14 points. Nyasha Sarju finished with 13 and McManus added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)