The Dribblies: Honoring the 2A’s best

YAKIMA, Wash. — After the first hectic three-week smorgasbord of high school basketball at the SunDome, we here at the Academy of Motion Offense, Hearts and Sidelines would like to thank everyone who made the tournament special for those of us not on the court, but frankly, we’re so brain-dead we can’t think of a good way to say it. So, without further adieu … the envelopes, please.

Your honorees in the 2008 Class 2A Dribblies:

SAME TIME NEXT YEAR: If you enjoyed this year’s Squalicum-Burlington boys championship game — though, given its one-sided nature, that would be akin to enjoying a surgical procedure — get used to it. Each team graduates just one senior, so it’s not inconceivable to think these two teams will be back as title contenders once again.

EAGLE EYE: To KATIE COLARD, the Elma Eagles’ sharpshooting junior who broke the tournament records for 3-pointers attempted and made — records she had set last year, when she made 13 of 40 attempts. This week she matched both of those totals in the first three games, and then went 3-for-11 on Saturday for her new records, 16 and 51. Her 15 free throws (in 16 attempts) in Thursday’s quarterfinals were also a tournament single-game record.

FALLING DOWN: To River Ridge’s YOUNASE DUNN, who was not only one of his team’s most efficient players during the Hawks’ third-place run but also deserves acting accolades for his brilliant performance in drawing a, uh, er, “charge” during Saturday’s third-place game against Fife. It was a bigger (and far more successful) flop than that Michael Douglas movie; he got the call, the Hawks got the ball and, ultimately, the win.

THE SANTA CLAUSE: To Ron Kearns, the white-bearded, red-clad River Ridge supporter who was the very image of Santa Claus in the SunDome stands this week. Kearns, who has played Santa every holiday season for the last nine years, was the pastor at West Valley Nazarene Church from 1975 to 1985. Now the senior pastor at New Hope Community Church in Lakewood, Kearns was at the SunDome to root on the Hawks, for which his grandson, Tyler Nelson, was a senior starter. But he couldn’t stay around for their third-sixth place game, because he had to fly out Saturday morning to Gatlinburg, Tenn., for a previous engagement — a “Celebrate Santa” convention.

REBOUND: To SHELBY CHESLEK, who did precisely that — rebound — better than anybody in the 12-year history of the 2A tournament. In accruing her 60 rebounds over four days, she led the tourney in both offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds.

FOUL PLAY: To the PULLMAN and MARK MORRIS players and the officials who called their Thursday boys consolation game, played at a glacial pace largely because of the 55 total fouls and the 77 free throws. Two players fouled out, seven finished with four fouls and three spectators complained of temporary deafness because of all those high-pitched whistles.

A STAR IS BORN: To HOLLY STARR, whose Friday and Saturday renditions of the national anthem were truly special, inspiring wide eyes, dropped jaws and glances between listeners with that expression of “Wow … you hearing this?” A senior at Quincy, Starr is a Christian singer-songwriter with an album out of what her Web site calls “worshipful pop/rock,” and based on those pipes, it’s very likely that her last name is a glimpse into her future.

FACE/OFF: To Toppenish senior JOSHUA SCHUTZ, who has had broken bones and dislocated joints in his prep sports career but, until Thursday, had never required a single stitch. In the quarterfinals against Squalicum, he took an errant elbow to the face that sliced open his right eyelid like a tomato, creating a gusher of blood, leaving him with an inch-long gash and ultimately requiring eight stitches. He missed less than 15 minutes of game-time and went right back to diving for every loose ball and, in the essence of sportsmanship, extending a hand to anybody else who ended up on the floor.

SECONDHAND LIONS: To BRANDI BENNER and JILL TORONCHUK, a pair of Lynden seniors who have been four-year teammates in both volleyball and basketball, playing big roles in helping those Lion teams bring home five team trophies in all. Benner and Toronchuk are also a doubles team in tennis, placing second in the state as sophomores before winning the title last spring.

THE CHANGELING: To TAYSHIA HUNT, the Prosser sophomore who came into the tournament with a 4.7 scoring average and then transformed herself into a scoring threat. Her career-high 13 points on opening day helped the Mustangs get past a fired-up Bellingham team, and her 19 points against Elma lifted Prosser into the semifinals.

UNBREAKABLE: To the LYNDEN girls, who — drubbed by 20 points by tall, talented and unbeaten Archbishop Murphy just a week earlier in the Northwest district championship — had too face the same, monumentally imposing obstacle once again in the championship game. But with tournament MVP BRANDI BENNER nailing four 3-pointers and playing in-your-face defense at the point, the Lions beat the seemingly unbeatable.

WISHFUL THINKING: To the SQUALICUM boys, whose absolute domination of this tournament was very similar to what Vashon demonstrated en route to its 1A title the week before. That left us thinking how much we would have loved to see Squalicum and Vashon playing one another — Squalicum with its sensational guard play against Vashon and its 6-foot-9 all-stater, John Gage. That would be infinitely more intriguing than any of the one-sided beatings those talented teams administered to everybody in their path. Squalicum vs. Vashon … wow. Talk about a game worth the price of admission.

GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS: To Willie Blodgett, whose tournament-record-breaking 38-point swan song was an appropriate sendoff to one of the state tournament’s (and the Valley’s) most explosive scorers in recent memory. Like his older sister, Andrea, young Mr. Blodgett was an indomitable battler. Even when the chips were down, Willie never was. We here at the Academy will miss his brand of competitive fire.