COOS BAY –The top-ranked team in the Class 3A girls state basketball tournament is one win away from proving they’re the best team in the state.

The Vale girls ground out a 38-23 win against Willamina in the semifinals 38-23 on Friday to advance to the final and face off against the winner of Nyssa and Valley Catholic on Saturday.

“Everytime you’re ranked No. 1, you have a huge target on your back.” said Hannah Bates, the Vikings’ leading scorer with 13 point Friday. “It feels good to come out and deliver.”

In addition to punching their ticket to the state final, Friday’s win offered some redemption for the Vikings.

Willamina beat the Vikings in the quarterfinals last year and Vale wanted some retribution a year after the Bulldogs deflated their chance for a third straight title. Vale closed out the game on a 8-0 run as an exclamation point on the win.

“It was a really tough loss last year,” Bates said. “It felt really good to win against this team. It was all on our minds.”

Down just 18-16 at the half, Willamina couldn’t buy a bucket in the final 16 minutes of play. The Bulldogs finished with only seven points total in the second half on just 3-for-23 shooting from the floor.

The Vikings were led by the shooting of Madison Johnson, who finished with 12 points — nine in the first half.

Johnson’s offense was nice, but she, along with the rest of the Vikings, were keyed in on their defense.

“(Defense) is what we focused on most because we don’t have that much size,” Johnson said. “This is a huge step for our team.”

The only player from Willamina to hit double digits in scoring was Whitney Anderson, who led the Bulldogs with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs went 7-for-46 total from the field on the game, a paltry 15 percent. They also missed all 15 of their 3-point attempts.

“The bottom line is you’ve got to make shots. We got looks, you just have to knock them down,” Willamina head coach Tom Anderson said. “It felt like there was a lid on the rim at times.”

The loss positions Willamina for a chance at third place Saturday, facing off against the loser of the other semifinal with Nyssa and Valley Catholic.

Vale isn’t shying away from the challenge of playing in the championship game.

“There’s a lot of pressure,” Johnson said. “I’m really excited and everybody is really pumped.”