SPOKANE — The Neah Bay girls basketball team ran into the buzzsaw of the No. 1-ranked Colton Wildcats in the first round of the Class 1B 2011 Hardwood Classic on Thursday morning.

Colton (23-2) beat the Red Devils (23-2) 67-34 at the Elite Eight tournament at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

The two teams had to hit the court soon after breakfast with a 9 a.m. start.

The Red Devils now play in the fourth-sixth place semifinals today with the loser out and the winner advancing to the trophy game Saturday morning.

Neah Bay will take on Mary M. Knight, which lost 73-11 to Sunnyside Christian in the first round. The game starts at 9 a.m.

Today’s winner will go against the winner between Lopez and Selkirk for fourth and sixth place at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Eastern Washington teams had an easy time against western squads in the first round Thursday.

In addition to Colton and Sunnyside Christian winning easily, Columbia (Hunters) held Lopez to a single digit in a 51-9 wipeout and Almira/Coulee-Hartline ripped Selkirk 66-29.

Despite winning its own tri-district tourney, Neah Bay had to play top-ranked Colton in the first round because the Wildcats lost to No. 2-ranked Almira/Coulee-Hartline 45-43 in the first round of their regionals the week before.

On Thursday morning, the Red Devils stayed with the Wildcats for one quarter of play before Colton blew the game open with a 23-5 second-period advantage.

Neah Bay trailed by only 16-14 after one but was behind 39-19 at halftime.

The Red Devils never got any closer, scoring in single digits during the final three periods of play.

Rebecca Thompson led the Red Devils with 11 points while Cherish Moss and Courtney Winck scored eight each.

Merissa Murner led the Red Devils on the boards with seven.

The Wildcats out-rebounded the Red Devils 47-32 in the game and had only 12 turnovers to Neah Bay’s 25.

Colton 67, Neah Bay 34

Colton 16 23 14 14 — 67

Neah Bay 14 5 7 8 — 34

Individual Scoring

Colton (67)

Dahmen 3, G. Druffel 3, K. Druffel 3, Heaslet 17, Kramer 14, Meyer 4, H. Moser 11, J. Moser 4, Smith 2, Vincent 4, Weber 2.

Neah Bay (34)

Ch. Moss 8, Murner 7, Thompson 11, Winck 8.