The Dribblies Envelope Please …

YAKIMA, Wash. — For those of you who have been sitting on your living-room couch watching the Winter Olympics or whatever showed up auto-recorded on your DVR, here are some of the highly-rated shows you missed this week at the SunDome, the second home for basketball fans from the tiny communities that produce Class 1B high schools.

THE APPRENTICE: To DEREK ISAAK of ALMIRA/COULEE-HARTLINE, a sophomore who is simply too young to be that good. But he’s the son of a coach and the grandson of a Husky Hall of Famer who played on UW’s 1953 Final Four team, and he’s on his way to rewriting the 1B record books. His 90 points this week only missed the tournament record by four, with the 59 tourney points he scored last year, he’s on pace to shatter the career mark of 202 even if the Warriors don’t reach the tournament in his final two years … which they will.

LOST: To the WILSON CREEK girls, for whom the ball was precisely that, again and again, in the Devils’ consolation-bracket elimination by Bickleton on Friday. Of their 52 turnovers, 32 were steals by the Pirates.

EIGHT IS ENOUGH: To the LAKE QUINAULT boys and the NEAH BAY girls, for whom eight — or, anyway, eighth — is apparently plenty. Those two teams have finished with the eighth-place trophy in both 2009 and 2010.

NUMB3RS: To the folks at BICKLETON where, with an enrollment of roughly 23, numbers are hard to come by. Band is mandatory in Bickleton schools from fifth grade on up, and the pep band typically includes seventh through 12th grades. But with the girls basketball team on the court — including the handful of them that might otherwise have an instrument in their hands — the Bickleton band at the SunDome also included sixth graders. And they had reason to play enthusiastically, with the Pirate girls earning the seventh-place trophy in their first state berth since 1981.

BREAKING BAD: To the ROSALIA boys, who played brilliantly last year en route to placing third, came in undefeated and ranked No. 1 this year and — playing in that fiendishly-stacked bottom bracket — didn’t make it past Friday.

STILL STANDING: To the PATEROS boys and the ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT girls, who did the hardest thing in any 16-team, double-elimination tourney. After losing on Wednesday, they had to piece together the fragments of their broken dreams enough to win Thursday, Friday and Saturday to place fifth — which may be an even harder trophy to capture than the big one.

BOY MEETS WORLD: To THUNDER WELLHAUSEN of ACH, a freshman who, had to hit two free throws with 7.8 seconds left in the semifinals to tie the game. In what might have been a knee-knocking situation, he drained them both. Welcome to showtime, kid. You can stay.

THE CLOSER: To the CUSICK boys, who had lost their Saturday trophy game in each of the last two years, thus ending their season on a down note. The Panthers’ goal this year: Make it to Saturday and win that final game. Cusick closed the deal, knocking off ACH on trophy day to place fourth.

DAMAGES: To KATELYN CLINTON of BICKLETON, who in the fourth-seventh place game — for the second time this season, both against Sunnyside Christian — finished with an eye swelling shut on its way to turning black, having caught an elbow in the face.

CHUCK: To CODY FLETT of WELLPINIT, a sensational player who had probably the worst shooting night of his life (3-for-24) in the Redskins’ semifinal loss, but did just what his team needed him to do — keep chucking shots. Flett was back in form the next day, going 9-for-17 and scoring 26 points as Wellpinit placed third, its highest finish ever.

CSI: To the COLTON girls, whose three games leading up to Saturday’s final were such brutal maulings that the only thing that kept them from being crime scenes were the lack of yellow tape and chalk-marked body outlines. KELSEY MOSER, the lone senior on this year’s Wildcat squad, has played on Colton teams that have gone third, second, first and first over the last four years. Wow. We repeat: Wow. Yes, these were truly the GOLDEN GIRLS.

LIFE UNEXPECTED: To the SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN boys, whose quarterfinal comeback from a 38-19 third-quarter deficit was also reminiscent of a much older television show: THAT’S INCREDIBLE. With new tournament life, Sunnyside Christian went on to hold off Wellpinit in the semis and St. John-Endicott in the championship tilt to become … wait for it … yes, KING OF THE HILL.

Repeat complete for Colton

Wildcats roll by ACH for second straight state title ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — Late in the second quarter, with Almira/Coulee-Hartline already trailing reigning and champion-to-be Colton by 17 points en route to an even more lopsided blowout, a Colton rooter yelled out, “How did you beat St. John(-Endicott)? Why are you even HERE?”

It was a question, frankly, any team in the Wildcats’ path this season must have wondered.

The Wildcats’ 64-34 title-game wipeout of a good ACH team — one whose first-round tourney victory had been over SJE, the one team to upset Colton this season — was typical of their scorched-earth march through the Class 1B girls state tournament.

Colton roasted four opponents by an average margin of 42.2 points, largely because of a high-scoring, 3-point-firing offense and a voracious defense. The Wildcats set a tournament record for least points allowed (89 points over the four rounds, or 22.25 per), allowing as many as 10 points in a quarter only twice.

They also set single-tournament records for most 3-pointers made (33) and most attempted (113).

“Obviously, we played very well today,” Wildcats coach Clark Vining said after his team put the finishing touches on its 25-1 season, coming on the heels of third, second and first-place finishes. “We do take a lot of 3-pointers,

though we don’t always make seven in a half.”

That’s what they did in the first half in building a 38-15 lead. Mollie Kraner and Haley Moser each sank four of the Wildcats’ final total of 11 3-pointers, with Moser, a sophomore, finishing with 15 points and succeeding her older sister Kelsey — the lone senior in the Colton lineup — as the tournament MVP.

“That’s great,” Vining said when told of the younger Moser’s selection by the media as the tourney’s top player. “We’ve got another Moser coming up next year, too. One graduates and we get another coming in as a freshman.”

The next one, Jenna, is the younger sister of this year’s two stars.

Vining grinned. “Oh, she’s good.”

And the beat goes on. And, very likely the beatdowns as well.

Winters season in the Dome

YAKIMA, Wash. — It’s almost spring, but there are plenty of Winters in the SunDome this week.

Rick Winters guided his St. John-Endicott boys team Saturday’s championship game, while his daughter, Alli, played in the SJE girls’ victory for fifth place.

Rick’s brother Randy was selected as a boys tournament referee, but Randy had to withdraw because of family ties to a tournament participant.

Watching the event is father Bob, a local football legend who coached Toppenish to a state title in 1989.

Next week, Rick’s sister Mindi will bring her Zillah girls team to the Class 1A tournament.

The athletic director at Zillah? That would be older brother Rock, who is also the Leopards football coach.

All Business for Davis

Kupp’s putback lifts Pirates to state berth ||

KENNEWICK — So a Davis sophomore with no reasonable appreciation for how young he is comes up with the play of the season. In a winner-to-state, loser out game. With one second left.

David Trimble? Must have been since the CBBN Columbia Division MVP was stellar as usual from one end to the other.

But no.

 

 

Devonte Luckett? Surely it was the glass sweeper, who was at the rim most of the afternoon, grabbing caroms with relentless energy.

But no.

It was Cooper Kupp, a kid the coaches like to call ‘Business’ because he’s a cool-headed character with a monster work ethic and a well-educated desire to make a smart play.

Business was never so smart or cool as on Saturday, hitting a weakside, putback basket just before the horn sounded to lift the Pirates to a 60-58 stunner over third-ranked Richland in the Class 4A regional tournament at the Toyota Center.

PHOTO GALLERY

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“Just in the right place at the right time,” Kupp downplayed. “I knew what the play was set up to do, so I wanted to be there for a rebound. All of a sudden it was there.”

And all of a sudden Davis is headed to state after eliminating the senior-laden Bombers, who had twice beaten Davis in Yakima by comfortable margins.

“That’s just a huge credit to Cooper,” smiled coach Eli Juarez as his Pirates soaked in the moment. “He’s such a hard worker and he understands the game. He knew where to be and what to do. He’s all business.”

With the score tied at 58-58 and with possession, Juarez called a timeout with 18.9 seconds left. The idea was to get Trimble or junior Jackson Marquis in position to come off a screen and attack the basket. It turned out to be Marquis, who drove the left side of the lane and put up a short runner over 6-foot-6 Calvin Douglas.

As Marquis’ drive ticked down the final seconds — four, then three, then two — his shot missed off the right side of the rim and Kupp was right there. With no panic or haste, he made a senior’s play with a calm putback that was as soft as you could imagine.

 

 

And the wild celebration commenced.

 

“After my shot it was like everything was in slow motion,” Marquis said. “I saw Cooper grab the ball but I didn’t know, was there time? Then he shot, it went in and I was like, ‘That’s it, we got it!’”

Long before that final play the Pirates had Richland on its heals, employing solid pressure defense all over the court, interrupting the flow the Bombers’ shooters and making them do the chasing. That was a total reversal from their first two meetings when Richland opened big early leads.

With a game-changing 17-2 run to open the second quarter, the Pirates roared into the lead and held it until 3:11 left in the game when Douglas’ 3-point play finally pushed Richland ahead 55-53.

But just when the Bombers’ faithful were smelling a trip to Tacoma with a final repression of the stubborn Pirates, Richland tightened up at an unlikely place — the foul line. The Bombers missed four free throws in the final 2:34, and James Carter hauled down rebounds off the front end of two missed one-and-ones.

Garrett Gallinger made amends for one of those missed chances, hitting a pair of foul shots with 28.4 seconds left to tie the game and set up Davis’ final possession.

“The kids were ready and they played extremely good defense,” Juarez said. “We were aggressive on their 3-point shooters, we kept our pressure on and didn’t let them get in a rhythm.”

Davis’ hope rested with turning the tables on Richland’s pace-setting and not allowing the Bombers to build big leads, like the overwhelming margins of 17 and 21 points that led to the two previous losses. And with Richland possibly deflated after Friday’s semifinal loss to Gonzaga Prep, maybe, just maybe …

“They were expected to win, and we felt like the pressure was on them,” said Luckett, who grabbed nine rebounds and hit a big basket with 1:05 left for a 57-56 lead. “If we could just work for a lead and make them feel the pressure. That was a tough loss for them yesterday while we won (beating University) — we wanted to take advantage of that.”

The 17-2 run did the trick, and it came directly after Richland’s Colton McCarger had bombed in three 3-pointers in the final 45 seconds of the opening period for a 21-14 lead. During Davis’ surge, which was capped by Markus McClurkin’s 3-pointer, the Bombers were 1-for-9 from the field.

“The third time was the charm,” Marquis said. “Our defense was the best of the season. And once we got the lead our confidence got stronger and stronger. We’ve always been a second-half team and we proved it today.”

Trimble drew fouls slashing to the basket, hit 8 of 10 free throws, scored 16 points and brought down seven rebounds. Eight players contributed at least four points.

“The kids played with so much heart,” Juarez said. “It was a tough situation, coming down here with a lot of Richland people here, but they struck together and played a great game.”

Davis (20-7) will join Gonzaga Prep (23-2), Mead (19-6) and Walla Walla (22-5) in the 4A state tournament next week in the Tacoma Dome. Gonzaga Prep defeated Mead 67-63 in Saturday’s regional title game.

North Central soars past Sunnyside

KENNEWICK, Wash. — Sunnyside’s boys have looked up at taller players all season long. Didn’t stop them from winning 15 games, and didn’t stop them from winning the CBBN 3A district title.

But on Saturday afternoon, the Grizzlies couldn’t overcome the tall timbers of North Central.

With 6-foot-9 Lucas Evans paving the way with 16 points and 12 rebounds and 6-4 Zac Hill adding a near double-double, North Central defeated Sunnyside 71-46 in the 3A regional semifinals at the Toyota Center.

The Indians, who dispatched East Valley of Spokane 52-43 in the first round, used their height advantage to shoot a torrid 62 percent, including 14-for-22 accuracy in the second half.

The good news for Sunnyside is having a week to regroup. The tournament moves to Rogers High School in Spokane next Friday and Saturday, and the Grizzlies will have to win back-to-back loser-out games to qualify for state.

“We’ve been up against that all year long, but the kids played hard,” said Sunnyside coach Ron Rowe. “We’ve got a tough group of kids and they’ve been in adverse situations before.”

The Grizzlies were within 23-17 in the second quarter before North Central closed the half on an 11-2 run. Working from the high and low post positions, the lanky Evans kept the pressure on with three field goals in the third period. He finished 7-for-11 from the field.

Sunnyside’s tallest starter is 6-3 Jacob Bos, and the Indians had five taller players. The disparity also had an effect on Sunnyside’s offense, which converted just 17 of 67 shots.

“We played good aggressive defense at times, but when we broke down they really took advantage,” Rowe said. “We worked hard but when you shoot 25 percent …”

Sunnyside workhorse Alfredo De La Barrera put together 15 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, and James Sanchez and Matt Johnson hit two 3-pointers apiece.

Sunnyside (15-7) will play Rogers (12-12), a 61-59 loser to Shadle Park in Saturday’s other semifinal, on Friday at 4 p.m. on Rogers’ home floor.
“We’ll put in a good week of practice and see where it goes,” Rowe said.

Wanderscheid sets course record at Apple Tree

YAKIMA, Wash. — It’s still February, but apparently it’s not too early in the golf season to post a low number.

As in really low, as in Zach Wanderscheid’s 9-under-par 63, which Saturday tied the course record at Apple Tree.

Wanderscheid, a 17-year-old senior at Goldendale High School, shot his record-tying round from the championship black tees, from which Apple Tree measures 6,961 yards. The first 63 at Apple Tree was recorded by former head professional Jeff Widdows.

Already having had stellar high school and junior golf careers, Wanderscheid has accepted a scholarship to the University of Idaho.

He began with a par on No. 1, followed with birdies on the next two holes and then parred through the rest of the front nine for a 33.

One the back side, Wanderscheid parred No. 10, birdied 11 and 12, parred 13 and then birdied holes 14 through 18. He had a 30-foot putt for eagle on No. 18, which would have given him a 62, but missed.

Wanderscheid said he used 27 putts and hit 11 of 14 fairways. “The ones I missed,” he said in a telephone interview, “were only, like, barely.”

Asked if he thought it was too early in the season for such a low number, Wanderscheid chuckled and said, “Nah, it’s never too early.”

He said he’d never approached a score that low at Apple Tree, but had shot 61, the course record and 11 under par, at Goldendale Country Club, his home course.

Warriors add local owner

YAKIMA, Wash. — Continuing to increase the local presence in their team, the Yakima Valley Warriors announced that Steve Sheldon has purchased a minority ownership stake in the team.

“I am very excited to become a partner of the Yakima Valley Warriors,” Sheldon said in a statement released by the team. “I believe this organization, with the community programs they support (like Habitat for Humanity and Grid Kids) will be a staple in the Yakima Valley for years to come.”

Sheldon, a graduate of East Valley High, has been in the trucking and transportation industry for the past 35 years, and has also been a reserve Deputy Sheriff with the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office since 1991.

He will be the team’s director of security, and also help with sponsorship sales.

“Anytime you can add a quality person like Steve to your organization it is a great day,” Warriors CEO Michael Mink said in the same release. “We are very excited to have a local partner.”

The team begins play March 20 at the Wenatchee Valley Venom. The Warriors’ home opener is April 3 in the SunDome, also against Wenatchee Valley.

For more information on the team, visit their Web site at www.yakimavalleywarriors.com.

SPU pulls away from Central women

SEATTLE — Seattle Pacific University outscored Central Washington 23-5 over the final 9:17 to subdue the stubborn Wildcats, winning 74-48 in a GNAC women’s basketall game Saturday night at Brougham Pavilion.

The 19th-ranked Falcons improved to 13-1 in league and 22-3 overall. Central (3-11, 6-18) lost its eighth straight.

Sophie Russell and Brooke Fernandez were the only Central players to reach double figures, scoring 16 and 10 points, respectively. The Wildcats shot just 29.8 percent.

Seattle Pacific had four double-digit scorers, led by Daesha Henderson’s 30 points. Megan Hoisington (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Melissa Reich (12 points, 12 rebounds) had double-doubles for the winners.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — Russell 4-12 6-8 16, Fernandez 4-7 0-0 10, Duerr 3-8 0-0 7, Bergner 2-6 2-2 6, Jacobs 2-8 0-0 5, WalkingChild 1-3 0-0 2, Betteridge 1-4 0-0 2, Albrecht 0-4 0-3 0, Afoa 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 17-57 8-13 48.

SEATTLE PACIFIC — Henderson 9-16 6-8 30, Hoisington 7-15 1-3 15, Reich 6-10 0-5 12, Rohrbach 3-5 5-6 11, Harazin 1-8 2-2 4, Sims 1-6 0-0 2, Maloney 0-5 0-0 0, Murray 0-0 0-0 0, Thralls 0-2 0-0 0, Teng 0-0 0-0 0, Gorman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 14-24 74.

Halftime—Seattle Pacific 32, Central Washington 24. 3-Point goals—Central Washington 6-19 (Fernandez 2-4, Russell 2-4, Duerr 1-4, Jacobs 1-4, Betteridge 0-1, WalkingChild 0-1, Bergner 0-1), Seattle Pacific 6-20 (Henderson 6-9, Hoisington 0-1, Harazin 0-4, Sims 0-2, Maloney 0-4). Fouled out—Afoa. Rebounds—Central Washington 37 (Afoa 7, Russell 7), Seattle Pacific 53 (Reich 12). Assists—Central Washington 8 (Jacobs 3), Seattle Pacific 22 (Harazin 6). Total fouls—Central Washington 19, Seattle Pacific 12.

Chico State sweeps Central

CHICO, Calif. — Johnny Hay had three of Chico State’s eight home runs, and the Wildcats pounded out 40 total hits in posting a 24-2, 12-1 sweep of Central Washington in a baseball doubleheader Saturday.

Chico State (8-2) homered five times and had 13 extra-base hits, part of a 24-hit attack, in the opener. Michael Murphy led the way, going 4-for-4 and scoring four times.

Hay was 4-for-4, including two homers, with four RBI in the second game for 16th-ranked Chico State.

Central (2-6) had just seven hits and committed three errors in the opener, and had only four hits in the second game.

C. Washington 000 100 010 — 2 7 3 Chico State 005 146 80x — 24 24 0

Hjellum, Tarver (5), Wakefield (6), Summers (7) and Hammons, Evans (8); Gleason, Fowler (7), Krisman (8), Nartker (9) and Manlove. W—Gleason. L—Hjellum. HR—Chico State, Adam Arakawa, Michael Murphy, Devin Braden, Johnny Hay, Danny Dyer. CWU highlights: Sean Murphy (CWU) 2b, RBI.

C. Washington 000 000 1 — 1 4 3 Chico State 511 401 x — 12 16 0

Millbauer and Hammons; Hymas, Greene (7) and Manlove. W—Hymas. L—Millbauer. HR—Chico State, Hay 2, Adrian Bringas. CWU highlights: Brett Bielec (CWU) 2b; Jake Hammons (CWU) 2b; Kris Henderson (CWU) RBI.

2/28/10 Letters to Sports

Sunnyside boys coverage lacking

To the sports editor — I am very disappointed in the Herald’s report on the boys 3A district championship game Saturday night (Feb. 20).

Sunnyside fought off a very spirited West Valley team to claim its first district championship in many, many years. I noticed you did, however, have a good recap of the girls District game between Hanford and West Valley.

What I would like to know is, why didn’t the paper make a bigger deal about our championship? Our boys worked hard for this and deserve a little more recognition.

Patrick Watts
Sunnyside

White Swan teams deserve more

To the sports editor — I am and always will be a Swanner, which is a White Swan Cougar fan. Over the years I have watched the Cougars go to state tourney after state tourney and have always been very supportive. We may not be one of the biggest cities in the Valley, but we do have a bigger fan base than a lot of other schools. The Cougars do not get the recognition they deserve, I feel, along with a lot of other people that support White Swan. We would like to open the sports page and see our team on the front page when it is so much deserved. Both the boys and girls will be playing for district championship tonight (Thursday) and there is not one word mentioned about the games or how well they are doing in their leagues. We love our team just as much as Sunnyside Christian, La Salle, or any other team out there. Please give us some much needed attention. Please, please, please.

Sally P. Armour
Toppenish

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