12/22/10 Prep basketball scoring summaries

BOYS

CWAC

Grandview 66, East Valley 57

GRANDVIEW — A. Vela 6, Daniel Nielsen 22, Reyes 8, T. Vela 5, Christian Schrank 19, Curtis 4, Escobedo 2. EAST VALLEY — Jonathan Janis 23, Davila 8, Pecheos 1, Nickoloff 7, Markley 6, Navarro 0, Bl. Ward 0, Sauve 2, Brandon Ward 10.

Grandview 24 17 7 18 — 66 East Valley 16 17 15 9 — 57

Highlights: Victor Davila (EV) 9 rebs; Br. Ward (EV) 7 rebs, Cody Nickoloff (EV) 5 rebs; Nick Pecheos (EV) 4 assts.

Ellensburg 69, Ephrata 42

ELLENSBURG — Dunlop 5, Gigstead 4, Haberman 0, Graham 2, Davis 7, Doebler 1, Strom 2, Bennett 0, Alllen-Russell 0, Joe Montano 20, Reece Ravet 17, Mitchell 7, Jacobs 2, Ledgard 2. EPHRATA — Tanner Williams 13, Mayer 0, Clark 3, Allen 9, Lane 3, Hinkle 2, Snyder 1, Crowder 0, Bentham 0, Christensen 8, Blair 3.

Ellensburg 23 13 19 14 — 69 Ephrata 8 7 12 15 — 42

Highlights: Montano (E) 7 rebs., Corey Dunlop (E) 10 assts., Ravet (E) 5 3-pointers.

Toppenish 68, Othello 58

OTHELLO — Tovar 2, Sam Para 12, Caleb Garza 20, Scott 6, D. Garza 4, Rogers 4, D.J. Cantu 10. TOPPENISH — R. Isadore 8, Kyle Jamison 10, S. Isadore 6, Equihua 8, Stauffer 0, Sal Gudino 15, Reynolds 0, Mario Sanchez 10, Wesley Williams 11.

Othello 16 14 18 10 — 58 Toppenish 13 19 23 13 — 68

Highlights: Jamison (T) 6 assts, 4 rebs; Sanchez (T) 5 rebs; Gudino (T) 8 rebs, 4 assts; S. Isadore (T) 6 assts, 8 rebs.

Wapato 76, Quincy 60

QUINCY — Avalos 0, Durfee 2, Pearson 3, Behrens 8, Corner 0, Flores 2, Grigg 15, Mario Martinez 17, Maciel 13, Figueroa 0. WAPATO — Mandac 5, Efrain Reynoso 14, Gomez 0, Smiscon 6, Arambull 5, Valencia 0, Gonzalez 3, Miranda 6, Craig 5, Jacoby Howe 32.

Quincy 8 17 16 19 — 60 Wapato 18 9 27 21 — 76

Highlights: Howe (W) 6 rebs, 4 assts, 4 3p; Miranda (W) 5 rebs.

Selah 69, Prosser 56

SELAH — Hernandez 2, Weeks 0, Drew Dyer 19, Fickes 5, Magana 2, Brady Hutchins 17, Kolton Wentz 14, Wood 6, Galland 0, Roberts 4. PROSSER — Garza 8, Gustafson 9, Danny Raap 10, Silva 8, Hancock 6, Cruz 2, Pilot 9, French 3, Killian 1.

Selah 11 11 21 26 — 69 Prosser 9 12 18 17 — 56

Highlights: Dyer (S) 9 rebs; Brady Hutchins 8 assts.

NORTH CENTRAL 2B LEAGUE

White Swan 67, Warden 61

WHITE SWAN — Huereca 5, Alex Sampson 17, Mora 2, Mack 0, Lawrence Fiander 29, A. Lewis 0, N. Lewis 2, Ball 2, Spoonhunter 0, Nathaniel Fiander 10. WARDEN — Duarte 7, Jesse 13, Pruneda 14, Mark 5, Flores 10, Bates 1, Wurzer 0, Ruge 11.

White Swan 15 17 13 22 — 67 Warden 22 17 15 7 — 61

Highlights: N. Lewis (WS) 8 rebs.; N. Fiander (WS) 8 rebs.

NON-LEAGUE

Eisenhower 55, West Valley 51 FINAL

WEST VALLEY — Peake 6, Cluff 2, Dresker 4, Austin Strock 12, Ryan Gilliam 23, Robles 0, Wallace 0, Hunter 2, Mollett 2. Totals 17-42 11-16 51. EISENHOWER — Gasseling 6, Cody Clayton 17, Tanner Urlacher 12, Andy Soto 10, Ab. Soto 0, Oldham 0, Nickens 0, Phin 6, Garcia 4. Totals 18-37 14-23 55.

West Valley 19 8 14 10 — 51 Eisenhower 14 17 9 15 — 55

Shooting percentages — FG: WV 405; Ike .486; FT: WV .688; Ike 609. 3-point goals — WV 6-16 (Peake 0-1, Cluff 0-3, Dresker 0-2, Gilliam 6-8, Mollett 0-1); Ike 5-12 (Gasseling 1-3, Urlacher 3-5, Garcia 0-1, An. Soto 1-3). Fouled out — Dresker, Strock. Rebounds — WV 25 (Peake 5, Dresker 5, Strock 5); Ike 22 (Phin 4). Turnovers — WV 13, Ike 10. Total fouls — WV 21, Ike 16.

Davis 72, Sunnyside 60

DAVIS — Kupp 4, Devonte Luckett 19, Navarro 3, Jackson Marquis 11, Markus McClurkin 13, Trimble 8, Aramis Carter 12, Allen 2. SUNNYSIDE — E. Salmeron 2, R. Salmeron 0, Israel Manzo 26, A. Daley 8, Leija 3, Fernandez 0, B. Daley 0, Serl 8, Amaro 4, Spini 7, Barrios 2.

Davis 18 16 21 17 — 72 Sunnyside 15 14 18 13 — 60

Highlights: Andrew Daley (S) 7 rebs, Manzo (S) 6 rebs; Luckett (S) 11 rebs; David Trimble (S) 7 rebs.

Cashmere 71, Granger 67

GRANGER — Pacheco 3, B. Oswalt 9, Rodarte 1, Brandon Castro 22, J. Oswalt 0, Andrade 2, Matt James 13, Cervantes 2, Andrew Reddout 13, Ochoa 2. CASHMERE — Ruether 2, McElroy 0, Cooper Elliott 18, Johnston 9, Collins 2, Mitchell Darlington 17, Dylan Boyd 13, Christensen 3, King 7.

Granger 19 20 13 15 — 67 Cashmere 11 20 19 21 — 71

Highlights: Brandon Oswalt (G) 7 rebs., 6 assts., 6 stls.; James (G) 6 rebs.; Reddout 6 rebs., 4 assts. Elliott (C) 10, Boyd (C) 4 stls.

River View 49, Highland 46

HIGHLAND — Hakala 8, Hyde 0, Gellerson 0, Linse 6, Kavan Stoltenow 10, Tanner Christensen 16, Gonzalez 2, Pulido 3, Hein 1. RIVER VIEW — Hamlin 0, Grow 7, Davis Flores 13, Joiner 5, Contreas 8, Bentancourt 7, Westfall 5, Brisby 4.

Highland 14 12 9 11 — 46 River View 10 12 11 16 — 49

Highlights: Christensen (H) 9 rebs; Joiner (RV) 7 rebs; Bentancourt (RV) 7 rebs.

Sunnyside Christian 76, La Salle 40

LA SALLE — Joe Sullivan 10, Duffy 4, Brusic 5, Smith 2, Leach 2, Kennedy 9, Glazier 1, Chambard 0, Maki 0, Rivard 7. SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN — Trevor Wagenaar 19, De Jong 7, Alex Brouwer 12, Bosma 3, Van Belle 4, Moore 0, Brandon Broersma 8, Burton 0, Haak 1, Steven Broersma 22.

La Salle 7 4 15 14 — 40 Sunnyside Christian 15 24 16 21 — 76

Highlights: Kevin De Jong (SC) 9 rebs.

Burbank 65, Cle Elum 36

BURBANK — Woody 12, Roberts 11, Smith 10, Lawrence 9, D. Bertsch 8, Hansen 5, J. Bertsch 7, Martinez 2, Chambers 2, Garcia 1. CLE ELUM — Tyler Kretschman 13, Newman 7, Talerico 6, Wallace 5, Allen 3, Kostenko 2, Reed 0, Tr. Kretschman 0.

Burbank 17 9 15 24 — 65 Cle Elum 6 16 3 13 — 36

Highlights: Matt Wallace (CE) 8 rebs.

Royal 67, Kittitas 52

KITTITAS — Driver 0, Larsen 5, Laker Brooks 13, Van Wagoner 2, Cameron Taylor 14, Dohrman 3, Hilton 6, Poole 0, Eflinger 0, Johnson 9. ROYAL — Ramirez 8, Dixon 0, Reed Leffler 14, Danny Vermeer 13, Montoya 2, Abel Castellon 10, F. Leitz 0, N. Leitz 9, Kent Christianson 11.

Kittitas 13 10 14 15 — 52 Royal 19 19 13 16 — 67

Highlights: Taylor (K) 16 rebs, 3 stls; Isaac Johnson (K) 4 stls, 4 assists, 7 rebs.

Dufur 76, Yakama Tribal 53

YAKAMA TRIBAL — Wahcumwah 6, Jerret Wong 12, Crossinghorse 2, Rojas 0, Barney 0, Joe Scabbyrobe 16, Whitecrow 0, Lewis 9, Wahsinse 9. DUFUR — G. Neanus 0, Madson 2, Steven Begay 14, B. Little 23, Watt 6, Haener 13, Parke 2, Frankes 0, S. Neanus 0, C. Begay 0, Wesley Walles 11.

Yakama Tribal 15 13 17 8 — 53 Dufur 12 17 22 25 — 76

Highlights: Scabbyrobe (YT) 4 blks, 6 stls; Wong (YT) 8 stls.

GIRLS

CWAC

East Valley 47, Grandview 30

GRANDVIEW — Guillen 0, Shafer 0, Parrish 9, Espinoza 0, Montelongo 2, Marissa Cabellero 18, Trinidad 1, Trevino 0, Candido 0. EAST VALLEY — Betancourth 4, Ross 0, Yasi Mohsenian 18, Raney 1, Merkle 6, Eckert 0, Ward 3, Ramynke 8, T. Carpenter 0, Zimmer 6, J. Carpenter 1.

Grandview 7 7 13 3 — 30 East Valley 6 13 16 12 — 47

Highlights: Mikaela Zimmer (EV) 11 rebs; Mohsenian (EV) 8 rebs; Payton Parrish (G) 8 rebs.

Ellensburg 48, Ephrata 39

ELLENSBURG — Shannon Bland 11, Granado 2, Strom 8, Swanson 4, Hull 5, Gant 2, Pfeifer 2, Quirk 5, N. Gruber 4, Pennington 2, G. Gruber 3. EPHRATA — Kelsey Yenney 16, Weaver 3, Buchert 4, Boyd 2, Lutz 0, Woods 0, DeHoog 7, Eisen 6, Lotz 1.

Ellensburg 12 10 16 10 — 48 Ephrata 8 14 8 9 — 39

Highlights: Buchert (Ep) 5 rebs; Bland (El) 6 rebs.

Toppenish 49, Othello 34

OTHELLO — Joanna Quesada 10, Garza 3, Rodriguez 0, Bullis 7, Kirkwood 7, Hayduk 0, Salgado 3, Tolley 0, Martinez 4, TOPPENISH — Zuniga 2, Osiris Rodriguez 20, Carriedo 0, Bremer 2, Walker 6, Kaleea Vick 12, Maria Ciriaco 7.

Othello 13 4 11 6 — 34 Toppenish 7 18 8 16 — 49

Highlights: Ciriaco (T) 17 rebs.

Wapato 49, Quincy 37

QUINCY — Durfee 7, Aurorah Davis 13, Hodges 6, Peterson 1, Stetner 0, Cassidy Davis 10, Perez 0, Blancas 0, Horning 0, Slager 0. WAPATO — B. Cordova 2, Gasseling 3, R. Cordova 0, Velasco 6, Lamebull 2, Campos 4, Alvarado 3, Sammi Jo Blodgett 22, Fiander 5, Sosa 0, Anderson 2.

Quincy 5 6 15 11 — 37 Wapato 12 8 12 17 — 49

Highlights: Blodgett (W) 5 stls.; Charlie Fiander (W) 6 rebs.

Prosser 66, Selah 40

SELAH — Wood 6, Fickes 5, Jones 6, Morgan McCallister 11, Dexter 0, Merritt 3, Weeks 0, Bersing 4, Hartman 0, Briggs 5. PROSSER — K. Flores 7, Adams 0, Tayahia Hunt 17, Mercer 9, Petersen 5, T. Flores 7, Tamara Jones 21.

Selah 10 10 14 6 — 40 Prosser 16 8 17 25 — 66

Highlights: Jones (P) 7 rebs, 3 stls; Helen Petersen (P) 6 assts, 6 stls; Sydney Mercer (P) 7 rebs, 4 assts; Karissa Flores (P) 6 rebs; McCallister (S) 8 rebs.

NORTH CENTRAL 2B LEAGUE

White Swan 62, Warden 33

WHITE SWAN — M. Van Pelt 6, Hawk 0, Sanchey 0, Pruneda 0, Kassie Espindola 15, Zintzun 0, R. Van Pelt 0, Sophia Perez 16, Sheppard 8, Isadore 0, Amber Jones 17. WARDEN — Burnetta 0, Stavig 0, Yamane 0, Loera 2, Cole 4, Ervin 2, Gonzalez 4, Rodriguez 8, Brown 3, Bisnett 10.

White Swan 17 17 19 9 — 62 Warden 6 9 6 12 — 33

Highlights: Espindola (WS) 8 steals, 7 rebs, Sheppard (WS) 3 bkocked shots, 6 rebs, Hawk (WS) 6 rebs; Perez (WS) 7 steals.

NON-LEAGUE

Davis 68, Sunnyside 45

DAVIS — Castro 5, Juarez 6, Taryn Cobane 23, Kaluzny 6, Alexis Perez 11, Salazar 5, C. Cobane 1, Noe 2, Ceja 9. SUNNYSIDE — Melissa Amaro 11, Jongsma 2, Alvarez 6, Sanchez 4, Hernandez 1, Bermudez 6, Valencia 9, Reyes 3, Herrera 3.

Davis 18 13 18 19 — 68 Sunnyside 10 8 11 16 — 45

Highlights: Yzarely Castro (D) 8 stls.

Granger 54, Cashmere 45

GRANGER — Gunnier 2, Lynndel Wapsheli 13, Italia Mengarelli 19, Villa 7, John 2, Oswalt 4, Reyes 7. CASHMERE — Gonzales 6, Cunningham 0, O’Brien 4, Swits 5, Johnson 14, Causila 3, Salgado 0, Helm 0, Knishka 6, Peams 5, Smith 2.

Granger 8 11 12 23 — 54 Cashmere 11 11 14 9 — 45

Naches Valley 49, Cascade 34

NACHES VALLEY — Paul 0, Bogardus 4, Farris 9, Sprague 4, Stanley 0, Romero 2, Koszty 9, Reeder 0, Curtsinger 8, Justine Benner 13. CASCADE — Barish 2, Guthrie 2, Graham 4, J. McGregor 12, G. Brulotte 10, Christie 2, Towan 0, Riddich-Waters 2.

Naches Valley 15 9 10 15 — 49 Cascade 10 5 5 14 — 34

Highlights: Kayla Curtsinger (NV) 9 rebs; Benner (NV) 7 rebs, 4 assts; Delaney Romero (NV) 5 assts; Lexus Bogardus (NV) 6 rebs.

River View 50, Highland 24

HIGHLAND — Kassie Hampton 14, Newman 5, Hudson 4, Garcia 1, Sorenson 0, Rice 0, Preston 0, Perez 0, Smith 0. RIVER VIEW — Hattie Johnson 15, Gier 14, McGill 7, Burnett 6, Smith 4, Hess 3, Hamlin 2, Vanourek 1, Sallee 0, Robertson 0, Crowder 0.

Highland 6 4 5 9 — 24 River View 12 13 14 11 — 50

La Salle 39, Sunnyside Christian 35

LA SALLE — Patterson 2, Avalos 0, Andringa 2, Karly Sattler 12, Lauren DeGooyer 16, Standley 2, Kaschmitter 5. SUNNYSIDE CHRISTIAN — Haak 2, Van Oostrum 8, Long 7, DeGroot 4, den Hoed 6, Morrow 0, Broersma 3, Van Belle 5, Wavrin 0.

La Salle 10 8 11 10 — 39 Sunnyside Christian 11 8 4 12 —

35Highlights: Marisa Broersma (SC) 6 rebs.

Cle Elum 42, Burbank 41

BURBANK — Sara Rude 13, Breasdale 7, Roberts 6, Masqueda 5, Wilder 4, Dixon 2, McBride 2, Martineau 2. CLE ELUM — Haley Bator 15, Andrus 8, Sweigard 8, Newton 7, Potts 2, Ferguson 2, Cameron 0, Allen 0, Winebrenner 0.

Burbank 13 9 11 8 — 41 Cle Elum 8 12 4 18 — 42

Highlights: Bator (CE) 10 rebs; Sara Ferguson (CE) 7 rebs.

Kittitas 65, Royal 22

KITTITAS — Adams 9, Kilgore 3, Reno 7, Shae Larsen 11, Steiner 6, Lawrence 8, Vaver 9, O’Shaughnessy 7, Fewins 5, Hayes 0. ROYAL — Cid 1, Cera 1, Smith 2, Christiansen 3, Guadarrama 12, Gonzalez 3.

Kittitas 23 18 19 5 — 65 Royal 2 9 8 3 — 22

Highlights: Kayvonne Vaver (K) 6 assts, 6 stls.

Dufur 70, Yakama Tribal 22

YAKAMA TRIBAL — Johnson 0, L. Ayala 0, C. Ayala 0, Tupuola 0, Shaarnute Azure 10, James 0, Gleason 0, Whitecrow 8, Heath 0, Hicks 0, Wong 4. DUFUR — Kalby 2, Reed 9, McDonald 0, Watt 4, Macias 7, Jim 4, Maggie Ashcroff 20, Janelle Keeper 20, Brumley 0, Pullen 2, Hemish 0.

Yakama Tribal 4 2 4 12 — 22 Dufur 28 14 17 11 — 70

Highlights: Azure (YT) 4 steals, 3 rebs 2 3’s; Wong (YT) 3 rebs.

20 locals named to all-state football teams

The following Valley football players were named Tuesday to the Associated Press all-state teams:

Class 3A
Adam Peters, SS, HM OL and HM DL

Class 2A
Kramer Ferrell, Eburg, 1st team WR (third year in a row)
Ryan Nehls, Prosser, 1st team OL
Charlie Peterson, Prosser, 1st team DL
Cesar Lopez, Prosser, 1st team LB
Dominic Garza, Prosser, 1st team DB, HM WR
Kyle Bailey, Prosser, HM OL and HM DL
Adam Haberman, Eburg, HM QB
Carlos Ramirez, Toppenish, HM LB

Class 1A
Nathaniel Deardorff, Zillah, 1st team OL and 1st team DL
Blake Lesko, Goldendale, 1st team LB and HM OL
Anthony Dobson, Goldendale, 1st team DB
Reed Lindhe, Goldendale, HM DL
Joe Sullivan, La Salle, HM WR
Dan Brusic, La Salle, HM DB
Conor McCanna, La Salle, HM DL

Class 2B
Nate Sorensen, Kittitas, HM OL and HM DL
Zach Wallace, Kittitas, HM LB
Alex Sampson, White Swan, HM DB

Class 1B
Henry Matai, Lyle-Wishram, 1st team RB

Wolves often a convenient culprit

YAKIMA, Wash. — The fascination and dread with which Washington residents await the inevitable existence of thriving wolf packs in Washington state is evidenced by the sharply polarized aspect of every public meeting related to their management.

Ranchers understandably fear for losses to their livestock, while Washington’s elk hunters hear the hue and cry over diminishing herds in Idaho. That state’s hunting public and political leadership point to wolves, whose numbers rose in Idaho from barely 500 in 2005 to nearly 850 three years later, as the obvious culprit.

Idaho residents often refer to elk, deer and moose as their state’s livestock, and roughly one in every five Idahoans old enough to hunt does so. (Washington, which has more than four times Idaho’s 1.5 million population, has only about 30,000 more hunters.)

And with elk numbers plunging in some areas, notably the Lolo region of the Panhandle, many Idahoans have railed against August’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy to return Northern Rockies gray wolves back under the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s response two months later was to declare that Idaho’s wildlife managers would no longer act “as the designated agent of the federal government” when it came to wolf management, even when it came to poaching. What’s that? Somebody illegally killed a wolf? Sorry, not our problem.

Last week, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission added a punctuation point to that, suspending the state’s 2008-2012 wolf management plan.

But Idaho’s days of widespread, world-class elk hunting were in jeopardy long before the wolves started showing back up.

Yes, the wolves are definitely feasting on elk. But the state’s natural history gives us another culprit: humans.

Not the ones who hunt. The ones who put out fires.

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No fire, no new habitat

The elk populations Idaho hunters enjoyed in the northern and central parts of the state between the 1950s and 1980s were the result of outstanding elk habitat that was, in turn, largely the result of major wildfires in 1910, 1919 and 1934. Those blazes left behind a landscape of thinly forested meadows teeming with new growth and green grasses, into which elk populations moved and flourished.

As wildland firefighting techniques became much more efficient, though, major wildfires became more rare — and those areas filled in. And thick, heavily understoried forests and elk do not mix.

“It’s interesting how the discussion has shifted in the last 15 years,” said Pete Zager, an Idaho Fish and Game wildlife biologist. “Fifteen years ago or so we didn’t talk much about how much predation was forming these (elk population) systems. It was all habitat.

“Obviously that has flipped more recently, to where the habitat has been kind of lost in the discussion. And it shouldn’t be lost.”

The habitat itself, though — most of it within the two-thirds of Idaho land that is federally owned and managed by the Forest Service — has been steadily disappearing.

“The fly in the ointment there is it’s hard to manage any wildlife population when you have no control over its habitat,” said Mike Schlegel, a retired Idaho Fish and Game biologist who now works as an outfitter/guide. “The (wildlife) department didn’t have control over saying we were going to burn 10,000 acres of habitat; all we could do was go to the Forest Service and say, would you please do this?”

But while state and federal agencies now work together on prescribed burning to reverse the damage done to forest health by a century of fire suppression, that’s a very recent development. And elk numbers have been slipping for years.

“Back in the 1970s, the Forest Service was a timber machine, to put it bluntly,” Schlegel said. “They were cutting and running and cranking out miles and miles of road into previously roadless habitat. Then the timber industry went into the tank, so it was a double whammy: The number of hunters was going up and recreation time was increasing, the access into habitat was accelerating and habitat was declining.

“It was kind of the perfect storm.”

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Predators and prey

Another factor in that storm, at times, has been a predator that wouldn’t be the first to come to mind when considering elk predation: black bears.

During the early 1970s, hunters in some parts of the state had a 35-day elk season, an over-the-counter hunt for an elk of either sex.  By then elk numbers had already started declining, and the assumption was the already diminishing habitat.

In 1971, elk herds in Idaho Fish and Game’s Clearwater region averaged 21 calves for every 100 cows, barely more than half the calf ratio necessary for the elk to flourish. Biologists assumed the low calf recruitment had to do with deteriorating winter range, but the numbers of calves being born was far higher than the number that survived.

For four years Mike Schlegel studied the issue, putting radio collars  on newborn calves to determine what was killing them. The answer he kept coming up with? Black bears.

“The bear, it’s an opportunistic predator,” Schlegel said. “It’s an omnivore — it eats plants and animals. But the bear, being opportunistic, when he’s out there foraging for grass and he comes upon a calf, he’s going to take it.”

Roughly 80 percent of the bear predation on elk, Schlegel found, happened during the first two weeks of June — the calving period, when the calves are still ungainly and their mothers are often off by themselves. “When they’re about two weeks old,” Schlegel said, “they’re together in groups and in numbers — and by two weeks old, the calf is more physically able to elude the bear.”

Schlegel believes bears developed “learned behavior” when it came to elk, learning when and where to look for those vulnerable calves.

So, too, will pack hunters like wolves. That an unchecked wolf population would make a dent in elk and deer numbers, not to mention livestock and pets that stray too far from rural homes, is a given.

In most areas where wolf packs have been established, they are clearly changing elk behavior — moving the elk into the most rugged, isolated areas, thereby frustrating hunters who may have successfully worked the same draws for years or even generations.

Based on Idaho Fish and Game reports, though, 23 of Idaho’s 29 elk zones remain above or within management objectives for female elk, 15 years after the reintroduction of wolves — and 14 years after the ferocious 1996-97 winter resulted in up to 40 percent elk mortality in some herds.

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Finding the balance

It’s unlikely that a high-level predator like wolves will ever be generally welcomed in a region where the lines between urban and rural are coming increasingly blurred.

Wolf predation has far less of an impact on livestock than, say, attacks by coyotes or domestic dogs — and kills a tiny fraction of the number of cattle and sheep taken by respiratory and digestive problems.

Still, wolves do kill cattle and sheep, in Idaho more so than anywhere else in the Northern Rockies. The number of sheep and cattle believed killed by wolves has risen sharply, from 244 in 2005 to nearly 400 in 2008 — the year before gray wolves’ federal protection under the Endangered Species Act was removed.

Until last summer’s suspension of its compensation payments to livestock owners who had lost animals to wolves, the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife had paid out more money (about $433,384) in Idaho than any other state. The number of wolf-killed sheep Defenders compensated owners for in Idaho exceeded those in Montana, Wyoming and Oregon combined.

And those wolves have paid for it. More than 400 were killed between 2005 and 2009 by wildlife control officers, livestock owners and poachers, and nearly 200 others were harvested during Idaho’s seven-month wolf season that ended last March 31.

Even after 15 years of wolf recovery, their management remains a work in progress, and it’s not only hunters who believe Idaho has too many wolves now. Even Schlegel — who was once Idaho’s representative on the federal wolf recovery team and who also understands only too well the extent to which the state’s elk habitat has declined — thinks so.

“I’m not saying that if they eliminated wolf predation right now that those elk numbers are going to go back up to where they were,” Schlegel said. “But they will go beyond where they are now.”

Soon enough, Washington will almost certainly face the same difficult balancing act as its neighbor to the east. And not everyone will be pleased.

“Ecosystems are incredibly complex, and we as humans have the responsibility of balancing and managing those ecosystems — and balancing does not mean eliminating,” said Bob Tuck, a former Washington wildlife commissioner who serves on the state’s wolf-management panel.

“We have a segment of society that views wildlife and the habitat essentially as a producer of a commodity for their exclusive use — as if it’s a vending machine, where you put in your quarter and out pops an elk.

“Well, wildlife habitat is not a vending machine. The mountains can’t be managed only for elk. They’re just part of an ecosystem — and without its top predators, that ecosystem doesn’t function properly.”

Local report: Granger’s Reddout notches triple-double

ROYAL CITY — Andrew Reddout finished with a triple-double — 18 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds — to lead the Granger boys to a 85-42 non-league victory over Royal on Monday night.

Brandon Oswalt led Granger (5-0) in scoring with 24 points, and added 10 rebounds, six steals and five assists. Brandon Castro added 17 points.

Reed Leitz led Royal with 12 points and Danny Vermeer added 11.
GRANGER — Pacheco 4, Brandon Oswalt 24, Brandon Castro 17, J. Oswalt 3, Andrade 2, James 8, Cervantes 2, Molina 7, Andrew Reddout 18.

ROYAL — Ramirez 9, Dixon 1, Reed Leitz 12, Danny Vermeer 11, Caballero 4, Christiansen 5.

Granger    24    19    18    24    —    85

Royal    12    12    11    7    —    42

Highlights: B. Oswalt (G) 10 rebounds,6 steals, 5 assists; Matt James (G) 7 rebounds; Reddout (G) 10 rebounds, 13 assists.

******
NACHES VALLEY 75, WAHLUKE 41: At Wahluke, Trevor Bailey led the Rangers with 16 points, Chris Walker added 15, and Carson Kass finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, as they beat Wahluke in a non-league game.

Rudy Garcia led the Warriors with 10 points, but Naches Valley (4-2) held Wahluke to just two points in the fourth quarter.
NACHES VALLEY — Trevor Bailey 16, Chris Walker 15, Vance 0, Huck 4, Dreibach 2, Pierson 6, Ca. Walker 6, Gaudette 8, Carson Kass 12, Coleman 6.

WAHLUKE — Acevedo 2, Ledesma 3, Abarea 0, Tlatelpa 0, Rudy Garcia 10, Chavez 8, Sabin 8, Sanchez 2, Yorgenson 8.

Naches Valley    26    16    19    14    —    75

Wahluke    14    12    13    2    —    41

Highlights: Bailey (NV) 4 assists, 3 blocks; Derek Huck (NV) 7 assists, 4 steals; Jourden Dreibach (NV) 7 rebounds; Thane Pierson (NV) 7 rebounds; Kass (NV) 11 rebounds.

*******

STEVENSON 57, LYLE-WISHRAM 51: At Stevenson, Henry Matai finished with a double-double, 13 points and11 rebounds, and Trey Kitchens added 13 points and six assists for the Cougars (5-2), but they lost a non-league game to Stevenson.

LYLE-WISHRAM — Mills 0, Luke 3, Martinez 4, Trey Kitchens 13, Mutch 0, Wolff 6, Titcomb 9, LaMaar 0, Henry Matai 13, Vonahn 3.

STEVENSON — Lloyd 10, Stump 0, Castro 9, Russell 20, Barajas 2, Gildersleev 13, Erwin 0, Morris 0, Waters 1, Dialkowski 0, Lacombe 0, Fulman 2.

Lyle    8    9    9    25    —    51

Stevenson    6    18    18    15    —    57

Highlights: Matai (LW) 11 rebounds; Kitchens (LW) 6 assists.

*******
Girls

Non-League

NACHES VALLEY 46, WAHLUKE 24: At Wahluke, Justine Benner finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Rangers past the Warriors in a non-league contest.

Kayla Curtsinger had nine points and six steals for Naches Valley, which held Wahluke scoreless in the fourth quarter.
NACHES VALLEY — Hall 0, Bogardus 3, Farris 4, Sprague 2, Stanley 0, Romero 2, Koszty 7, Reeder 0, Curtsinger 9, Justine Benner 19.

WAHLUKE — P. Hernandez 0, Feliz 9, Verducco 4, Jimenez 2, Tapia 5, Garcia 4, Martinez 0, Leitz 0

Naches Valley    17    11    6    12    —    46

Wahluke    10    7    7    0    —    24

Highlights: Benner (NV) 10 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists; Kayla Curtsinger (NV) 6 steals; Lexus Bogardus (NV) 5 steals.

*******

GRANGER 65, ROYAL 16: At Royal City, Lynndel Wapshi led three Spartans in double figures with 13 points as they beat Royal in a non-league game.

Brook John had 11 points and Lyndsa Oswalt added 10 for Granger, which held Royal to one point in the second quarter.
GRANGER — M. Gunnier 0, S. Gunnier 4, Lynndel Wapshi 13, S. Atunez 1, Mengarelli 7, Villa 8, Brook John 11, Lyndsay Oswalt 10, Hull 2, Reyes 9.

ROYAL — Bonilla 1, Cid 0, Cera 0, Smith 2, Christenson 0, Hebdon 0, Guadarrama 9, Langeron 0, Gonzales 4.

Granger    24    17    16    9    —    65

Royal    8    1    2    5    —    16

*******
STEVENSON 51, LYLE-WISHRAM 21: At Stevenson, Mandy Solomon led the Cougars with eight points, but Stevenson defeated Lyle-Wishram in a non-league matchup.
LYLE-WISHRAM — Hickman 2, Freemantle 2, Roth 3, Solomon 8, Hilton 4, Casey 0.

STEVENSON — Rutherford 14, Rothgeber 15, Stump 7, McKey 4, Eggebrecht 1, Hanley 2, Weery 8.

Lyle    6    1    7    7    —    21

Stevenson    17    7    15    12    —    51

*******
Wrestling

CWAC

OTHELLO 64, PROSSER 15

At Prosser

160: Eddie Garza (O) by forfeit. 171: Stevie Garza (O) by forfeit. 189: Amando DeLeon (O) tech. f. Alex Jasso 17-2. 215: Joey Gomez (O) pin Wyatt Oswalt 1:35. 285: Drew Renollet (P) pin Bubba Ruiz :27. 103: Isiah Barrera (O) tech. Alex Hurtado 17-1. 112: Gilbert Villa (O) pin Diego Atliano :30. 119: Aurelio Guevara (O) by forfeit. 125: Irvin Jaimez (P) pin Levi Garza 1:29. 130: Eleazar Pruneda (O) by forfeit. 135: Brandon Medina (O) pin Brandon Macias 3:23. 140: Matt Jordan (O) pin Job Yelez 1:48. 145: Ethan Groom (P) d. Caleb Villarreal 9-3. 152: Joseph Gonzalez (O) pin Bobby Wilson 1:37.
Record: Prosser 0-4.

Steelhead, trout running fast and furious up in Brewster

YAKIMA, Wash. — Looking for someplace to wet a line during the holiday break? May I suggest you head in the direction of Brewster. Right now anglers working the Columbia River north of Wenatchee are catching fish. Nice fish. Fat fish. Excellent- eating fish.

The great thing about fishing in the river near Brewster is you have your choice of fishing for late summer-run steelhead or triploid rainbow trout. Or, if you are really motivated, you can do both.

My son, Kyle, and I did just that last week when we met former Yakima fishing fanatic Anton Jones of Darrell & Dad’s Guide Service for a day of fishing — first for the fat, always-hungry triploids above Chief Joseph Dam, and then for some fun float-and-jig fishing for steelhead below the dam.

We were successful in both endeavors, and even though the daytime temperatures never broke the freezing mark, the catching (and the propane heater in Anton’s boat) kept us active and warm.

Our day started at daybreak, when Anton and one of his guides, Selah native Andy Byrd, met us at the launch right above the dam. The Columbia River here is known as Rufus Woods Lake and has become well known for putting out football-shaped rainbow trout that run anywhere from 2 to 22 pounds. We were after fish on the upper end of that scale.

I’ve fished Rufus before and have always caught fish, but never have I hooked into one of the really big boys that cruise the waters there. Our hopes were high for catching some fish in the 6- to 10-pound range, as Jones and Byrd had caught several that size the week before.

We made the 15-minute run up river to the first set of net pens and started fishing there.

The net pens are operated by the Colville Indians, who raise the genetically-altered fish (the rainbows can’t reproduce so they just keep eating and growing) for sale to restaurants and fish markets.

As part of their fish-raising program, the Colvilles release some of the fish into the river for sport anglers to catch. And we’re not talking about dinks — most of these fish are pushing two pounds when they get their freedom from the nets.

According to one of the Colville biologists who met us at the dock after our morning’s fishing, the tribe is set to release 4,000 fish per month into Rufus Woods from now until June.

I have caught the trout there before while trolling spinners and spoons. When the water cools even more, the fish work the shallow shorelines and anglers do quite well tossing black Rooster Tails into the shallows and retrieving them.

Last week the water was still 48 degrees, so the fish were staying fairly deep. We caught nine fat trout in three hours of fishing, and all were caught on Power Bait, fished right off the bottom in 80 feet of water.

None were the monsters we had hoped for, but they all were in the 2- to 3-pound size range and were great fun to catch on light trout rods.

With several fat rainbows in the box, we decided to put the boat in below Chief Joe and try for some of the steelhead lurking in the waters there. Fishing with floats and 1/8th ounce Maxi Jigs tipped with a small piece of dyed coon-tail shrimp it didn’t take us long to hook up.

When my bobber slipped under the surface I set the hook and in an instant I was doing battle with a beautiful 11-pound steelhead.

Two more rosy-cheeked steelhead were enticed to bite our jig-and-bait offerings in a couple of hours of fishing. All in all, not bad for a day of fishing on a cool December day, when most anglers have given up on fishing for the year.

So if you are looking for some fishing, it might be worth heading north and trying the Columbia. There’s no telling how the weather will be, but it’s a good bet the fishing will be hot enough to make you forget about cold ears.
• Rob Phillips is a freelance outdoor writer and partner in the advertising firm of Smith, Phillips & DiPietro. He can be reached at rwphillips@spdadvertising.com.

12/21 What’s Happening

Yakima, Kittitas get $1.5M in salmon funds

Projects in Yakima and Kittitas counties will receive roughly $1.5 million in state grants to fix damaged rivers and streams, replace failing culverts and replant river banks to benefit salmon runs, as part of $20.7 million in grants announced Monday by the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board.

Projects to receive funding include:

• North Yakima Conservation District, $258,974 for two projects, one adding fish screens to Ahtanum Creek and the other to restore about 16 acres of former agricultural ground along the left bank of Ahtanum Creek.

•Yakama Nation, $365,500 to enhance the upper Klickitat River by building a series of riffles to raise the primary channel and reconnect the river to its floodplain.

• Yakima County Public Services, $84,190 for the purchase of a voluntary land-preservation agreement protecting 35.5 acres near the mouth of Cowiche Creek at its confluence with the Naches River.

• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, $187,025 to relocate problem beavers in the Yakima Basin of both Yakima and Kittitas counties. The idea is to capture problem beavers (which are otherwise killed) and transplant them in upper Yakima River tributaries, where their dam-building activities will improve fish habitat and restore riparian function.

• Kittitas Conservation Trust, $326,5990 to restore Currier Creek, where modifications to accommodate cropland have resulted in erosion and floodplain disconnection.

• Kittitas County Conservation District, $112,959 to remove a barrier to fish passage in Manastash Creek.

• Mid-Columbia Fisheries Enhancement Group, $170,000 to restore the Jack Creek channel and floodplain.

Nearly $300,000 was granted to projects based in Klickitat County.

********
Forest roads belong to snowmobilers now

The annual changeover of Naches Ranger District forest roads last week became official. Prior to that, those roads were open to four-wheeled vehicles and closed to snowmobiles; now the snowmobilers are free to hit the roads, and the truck and car drivers must stay out.

Snow levels vary across the Naches Ranger District, ranging from a few inches at lower elevations to well over 2 feet in the Bumping and Little Naches drainages and even more at higher elevations.

All Sno-Parks within the district are posted open requiring a valid permit. Sno-Parks along State Route 410, Chinook Pass, are maintained by a private contractor with the Washington State Department of Parks and Recreation while Sno-Parks on White Pass (Highway 12) are cleared by Forest Service crews.

An Annual Sno-Park permit costs $41 and a day pass is $21. For the permit to be valid, one vehicle license plate number and the signature of the registered owner must be placed on the permit in permanent ink. To find a list of vendors in your area, go online to Washington Parks and Recreation Winter Program.

Snowmobile trail grooming is done by a private operator under contract with Washington State Parks and Recreation. Cross-country/snowshoe trails are groomed by the Forest Service.

********
BIRD ALERT

What started out as a snowy, dreary day actually turned into fairly decent weather Saturday as local bird enthusiasts took to the fields for the annual Toppenish “Christmas Bird Count” (CBC). Birders found large numbers of raptors, including bald eagle, golden eagle, red-tailed hawk, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, merlin and American kestrel, as well as great-horned, short-eared and barn owls.

They also observed large flocks of horned larks with a few Lapland longspurs — a first on the Toppenish Christmas County — mixed in. Another first was an Anna’s hummingbird at a feeder in Wapato. Also noted were 27 tundra swans in a mixed flock of cackling and Canada geese on the observation pond at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge.

Other noteworthy birds this week included a juvenile golden eagle at the Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge, and a good-sized tom turkey displaying his plumage in the Yakima River canyon. A western screech owl has been heard for several nights, tooting away in a conifer on 9th Avenue, a block south of Nob Hill. Dark-eyed juncos, fox sparrows, golden-crowned sparrows, black-capped chickadees, and a spotted towhee were all noted at the Yakima Arboretum. A Western scrub jay was seen sitting atop a conifer on Voltaire Avenue.

The Yakima Valley Christmas Bird Count is coming up on Jan. 2. Birders of all skill levels are welcome, and anyone interested should call the Yakima Valley Audubon phone line at 509-248-1963.

— Kerry L. Turley

********
AROUND AND ABOUT

ELK BAITING: A Spokane Spokesman-Review story reported three people were found guilty Dec. 13 of baiting elk in Idaho’s Boundary County, resulting in fines totaling $9,600. Idaho Fish and Game enforcement officers photographed two people — including the daughter of the landowner — putting out food to lure elk onto a Bonners Ferry-area property, after which they witnessed the daughter, who did not have a hunting license, kill a 6-by-7 bull elk.

The other person doing the baiting had also illegally killed a cow elk, which was discovered Dec. 12 by agents with a search warrant. Those two and the landowner were each fined.

PARADISE SNOWPLAY: Mount Rainier’s Paradise snowplay area opened for the season on Saturday, when park ranger-led snowshoe walks also got started. The snowplay area is immediately north of the upper parking lot at Paradise, and sliding and sledding in the park is permitted only in that designated area. Snowplay runs will be supervised daily by park pangers through Jan. 2, then on weekends and holidays from Jan. 8 through March 27. Visitors may use the sled runs when the area is not staffed, but the runs are not groomed during the week.

ST. HELENS SCHEDULE: The Mount St. Helens Institute has announced its snowtour tour schedule, with most of the treks family-friend and open to enthusiasts of all abilities. The schedule: Jan. 9 — Trail of Two Forests and Ape Cave; Jan. 30 — McClellan Loop; Feb. 13 — Valentine’s Snowshoe to June Lake; Feb. 27 — Koshko Loop; March 13 — Marble Mountain to Chocolate Falls; March 27— Old Man Pass Loop. Cost is $15 per person and space s limited.

For details and online registration, visit www.mshinstitute.org. Equipment isn’t provided, but snowshoes can be rented at a number of businesses. Questions can be e-mailed to info@mshinstitute, or call 360-449-7883.

********
ON THE CALENDAR

TODAY: The Cascadians’ “Tuesdays” will meet at the 40th Avenue Bi-Mart at 8 a.m. and head out to whatever cross-country ski/snowshoe trek or even hike is called for by the conditions. Come prepared for anything and bring lunch.

THURSDAY: Nope, the Cascadians’ Pokies won’t be hiking today — it being Christmas week and all — but rumor has it that they’re wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Wrestling power rankings 12/20

112 pounds
1, Logan Merkle, East Valley
2, Jonathan Salcedo, Granger
3, Armondo Hernandez, Toppenish
4, Santos Guerrero, Sunnyside
5, Lane Bruland, West Valley
Notes: Merkle did not face Salcedo at SunDome, but he pinned McKinney in the final after the Shadle Park entry edged Salcedo 11-9 in the semis. Hernandez beat Merkle 6-5 two weeks ago but avenged 2-1 in the SunDome semis.

119 pounds
1, Nathan Gonzalez, Sunnyside
2, Andres Tereza, Highland
3, Danny Magallon, Mabton
4, Dillon Dompier, Ellensburg
5, Kyle DeMerritt, Selah
Notes: Gonzalez beat Tereza 6-4 in the SunDome final. Dompier’s win over DeMerritt for fourth place was by forfeit.

125 pounds
1, Irving Jaimez, Prosser
2, Aaron Arredondo, Toppenish
3, Cristian Molina, East Valley
4, Cortez Hernandez, Zillah
5, Vincent Mireles, Mabton
Notes: Jaimez scored 31 points in going 4-0 at SunDome, including a 4-0 semi win over Arredondo. Molina lost in semi, then injury defaulted to Arredondo for third. Hernandez was 4-1 with only loss to Arredondo (3-0) in quarters.

130 pounds
1, Julian Romero, Toppenish
2, Konner Hopkins, East Valley
3, Isaac Guerrero, Sunnyside
4, Adrian Guerrero, Granger
5, Luis Padilla, Kittitas
Notes: Romero ripped through SunDome bracket with four pins, including 3:00 over Hopkins, who dispatched I. Guerrero 8-3 in semis. The Guerreros didn’t meet in the SunDome but Gates of Wenatchee was a common opponent, Isaac winning 8-5 and Adrian falling by late pin.

135 pounds
1, Isidro Ramirez, Sunnyside
2, Kody Ergeson, Selah
3, Cesar Espinoza, Kittitas
4, Jon Cole, Ellensburg
5, Juan Barajas, Sunnyside
Notes: Ramirez 3-1 at SunDome, beating Ergeson 12-1, and Cole was 4-1 with lone loss to Ramirez (10-3).

140 pounds
1, Colby Coates, Ellensburg
2, Emmanuel Tejeda, Sunnyside
3, Adan Chavez, Toppenish
4, Demi Anaya, Selah
5, Enrique Gudino, Eisenhower
Notes: Coates beat Tejeda 13-6 in SunDome semis. Chavez pinned Anaya in SunDome opener, then Anaya went 3-0.

145 pounds
1, Kamal Qteishat, Ellensburg
2, Preston Baich, West Valley
3, Ethan Groom, Prosser
4, David Vidales, Sunnyside
5, Jeremy Standfill, Selah
Notes: Qteishat, who lost 6-3 to Groom on Thursday, bounced back with a SunDome title. He went 4-0 with the closest match a 3-0 quarter win over Standfill. Baich was impressive in his debut, beating Groom and Vidales and losing only to Owens of Hanford, 7-6, in semis.

152 pounds
1, Josh Romero, Sunnyside
2, Austin Wagner, Davis
3, Nolan Bare, Goldendale
4, Rodney Treece, Zillah
5, Humberto Acevedo, Eisenhower
Notes: Romero came down from 160 for the first time and went 4-0 in the SunDome, edging Wagner 3-2 for the title. Bare, Acevedo and NV’s Jake Frazier all 3-1 at SunDome.

160 pounds
1, Chris Castillo, Zillah
2, Tyler Noble, Selah
3, Jeremy Waldner, East Valley
4, Jorge Alcala, Davis
5, Braydon Ross, Goldendale
Notes: Castillo pinned Noble (1:43) in SunDome final. Waldner was 4-1, and Alcala bounced back from a first-round loss to win three straight.

171 pounds
1, Jose Martinez, Wapato
2, Tyler Coates, Ellensburg
3, Zach Goodpaster, Selah
4, Carlos Ramirez, Toppenish
5, Lupe Mendoza, Sunnyside
Notes: Martinez was 4-1 in the SunDome with four pins, including a 1:56 fall over Coates. Mendoza, Goodpaster and Ramirez placed 6-8-DNP at SunDome, but Goodpaster edged Ramirez 4-2 and Ramirez pinned Mendoza at 1:14.

189 pounds
1, Kurt Wilkins, Goldendale
2, Nick Alverado, Toppenish
3, Kyle Kluever, Zillah
4, Abidan Duarte, Granger
5, David Gonzalez, Davis
Notes: Wilkins’ win over Alverado for third and seventh in the SunDome was by injury default. Kluever fell to Alverado 6-0 in the quarters.

215 pounds
1, Nathaniel Deardorff, Zillah
2, Adam Morales, Grandview
3, Raul Pech, Toppenish
4, Nate Sorensen, Kittitas
5, Noble Stoneman, Naches Valley
Notes: Deardorff 4-0 at SunDome for his fourth invite title. Pech was 3-1, losing only to Othello in quarters, and Stoneman was 2-2 with a tough 6-2 loss to Deardorff in semis. … Sorensen first at Cashmere.

285 pounds
1, Pete Almaguer, Granger
2, Adam Peters, Sunnyside
3, Frank Ochoa, Sunnyside
4, Richie Rodriguez, Selah
5, Alexes Garcia, Davis
Notes: Almaguer cruised through three pins at SunDome, then won title by injury default over Peters. Ochoa, Peters’ understudy, went 3-1 with a pin over Rodriguez.

Look to the sky tonight, if you can see it

YAKIMA, Wash. — A total lunar eclipse may not have the visual cachet of its solar counterpart nor generate the same anticipation, but it’s still pretty rare. It only happens once or sometimes twice a year.

Tonight is one of those times. And you’ll get to see it, maybe — provided you can see that full moon when you look up, and it’s not masked by a layer of clouds.

“If the skies miraculously clear up for two or three hours, you will,” laughed Larry Ovall, editor of the Yakima Astronomical Society newsletter. “It starts at about 10:30 tonight, starts getting to what’s called totality at 11:40, and it should be totally eclipsed, the moon totally covered by the earth’s shadow at 12:17 in the morning. It’ll stay that way for roughly a half-hour or more, and then the shadow will start moving off.”

This is the first total lunar eclipse of 2010, though it happens typically once or twice a year, Ovall said. The event only happens when there’s a full moon, and the eclipse is caused by the earth moving directly between the moon and the sun, therefore blocking the sunlight shining onto the moon.

A solar eclipse is the opposite, with the moon getting precisely between the earth and the sun, blocking the view of the sun. And unlike the short, for-a-few-minutes duration of a solar eclipse, this one lasts long enough that you’ll probably get bored with it long before it’s over.

The last solar eclipse visible in the Pacific Northwest was in 1979, and the next one won’t be until 2017.

– Scott Sandsberry

College basketball: Zapien leads YVCC to win

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Samantha Zapien scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds to help Yakima Valley defeat Tacoma 73-49 on the final day of the Bellevue Crossover Tournament.

Yakima Valley was scheduled to play Spokane in the third-place matchup, but swapped spots with Mt. Hood so both teams would avoid playing teams from their own regions.

Zapien was named to the all-tournament team.

Also scoring in double-figures for the Yaks was Dequise Hammick, who notched 10 points.

Tacoma was led by Emily Bando who scored 17 points and Sarah Quantz, who added 15.

Bellevue won the tournament by defeating Skagit Valley 70-61. Spokane defeated Mt. Hood 65-51 in the other matchup.

YAKIMA VALLEY — Newcomb 3-7 0-0 6, Weatherspoon 2-4 2-2 6, Yarlott 3-7 0-0 6, Hicks 1-6 1-2 3, Roe 2-3 1-2 6, Cordova 2-3 0-0 4, Green 2-4 2-2 6, Nguyen 0-3 0-0 0, Trinidad 0-3 0-0 0, Hammick 5-9 0-0 10, Brewster 3-8 1-4 7, Elliott 0-7 1-2 1, Zapien 7-10 4-5 18. Totals 30-74 12-19 73.
TACOMA — Bando 4-11 7-9 17, Austin 4-12 3-4 11, Petty 0-1 2-2 2, Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0, Dear 0-3 0-0 0, Quantz 4-13 5-10 15, Swayze 1-10 1-2 4, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Blackwell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-51 18-27 49.
Halftime—Yakima Valley 27, Tacoma 24. 3-point goals—Yakima Valley 1-5 (Roe 1-1, Newcomb 0-1, Cordova 0-1, Elliott 0-2), Tacoma 5-19 (Quantz 2-4, Bando 2-5, Swayze 1-9, Petty 0-1). Fouled out—Zapien. Rebounds—Yakima Valley 54 (Hicks 8, Zapien 8), Tacoma 35 (Quantz 7). Assists—Yakima Valley 14, Tacoma 6. Total fouls—Yakima Valley 21, Tacoma 12. Turnovers—Yakima Valley 22, Tacoma 26.

Boys basketball: Davis keeps rolling against Ike

Luckett, Marquis, McClurkin lead Pirates ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — On the first possession of the second half, Eisenhower point guard Josh Gasseling eluded intense Davis pressure near midcourt, dribbled toward the key and then slipped a nifty pass to a teammate for what appeared to be an easy layup.

Seemingly out of nowhere, however, came the Pirates’ Devonte’ Luckett to swat the ball against the backboard, after which it went out of bounds off another Cadet.

PHOTO GALLERY Click here for more photos from this event. SPACER Click here for information on purchasing photos.

And that’s pretty much how it went Saturday night, for both teams.

Davis, which used its experience, discipline, speed and quickness to impressively vanquish its first four opponents this season, did the same this time to Ike, 69-39 in the Pirates’ CBBN 4A opener on their home floor.

“You always want to beat your rival,” Pirates junior David Trimble said, “but the things we were focused on mostly were executing, doing the things we were supposed to do and winning the game.”

Which Davis did by forcing 26 turnovers and limiting the young and inexperienced Cadets to 29 percent shooting. No player for Eisenhower (0-2 league, 0-5 overall) scored more than six points, though five reached that total.

The Pirates, meanwhile, got 15 points each from Luckett and Jackson Marquis and 12 from Markus McClurkin. They shot 45 percent from the field and 86 (24 of 28) from the foul line, leading by as many as 33 late in the game.

“It was our first league game, so that was very important to us,” said Marquis, one of only three Davis seniors. “But since it was against our rival, that made it even bigger.”

Though the Pirates had struggled early in some of their games, suffocating full-court pressure resulted in 10 Ike turnovers and a 22-6 Davis lead through the first quarter.

By halftime, at which point the hosts were up 36-15, the Cadets had turned the ball over 15 times.

“That’s one of the things we wanted to establish was to use our pressure and get some baskets off turnovers,” Davis coach Eli Juarez said. “And we did that. They are a young team, and with most of their kids having not been in a rival game like this, we wanted to force the issue.”

Neither team lists a player taller than 6-foot-4 Pirate reserve Levonte Allen, but Davis compiled a 40-33 rebounding advantage with Carter and Luckett grabbing six each and Trimble five.

Cody Clayton, one of the Cadets with six points, had five boards along with teammates Abel Soto and Paul Phin.

“We’re still learning and improving,” said Trimble, smiling, “and it’s nice to have teammates you can count on — guys who always have your back if you should miss a dunk, for example.”

Which Trimble did midway through the third quarter. But after his slam attempt caromed high off the iron, McClurkin calmly gathered the ball in near the foul line and swished an open jumper.

It was that kind of night — for both teams.

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