2A girls: Top-ranked Prosser cruises

Second-half surge carries Mustangs ||

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Once Prosser’s offense hit its stride in the second half on Friday, it was full speed ahead to the Class 2A state quarterfinals next week in the SunDome.

The top-ranked Mustangs scored 40 points after the break — 20 each in the third and fourth quarters — and cruised to a 65-43 victory over Ephrata in a first-round game Friday night at Central Washington University’s Nicholson Pavilion.

Extending its win streak to 10 games after a non-league loss to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Prosser shot a brisk 53 percent on 26-for-49 shooting.

And Sydney Mercer was a big reason why.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore wing made 8 of 14 field goals, all four of her free-throw attempts, and had game-high totals of 20 points and 12 rebounds.

“She’s done that a couple times,” said Prosser coach Mark Little. “Her shooting was good, and she really hit the boards hard.”

Tamara Jones scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half, making 7 of 8 shots, and Tayshia Hunt popped in 14 points for the Mustangs.

“We had some trouble with fouls in the first half and we had too many turnovers in the third quarter, but our offense really took over in the second half,” Little noted. “Overall, it was a pretty good game for us.”

The Mustangs (23-1) have plenty of time to rest up for the quarterfinals. They don’t play until 9 p.m. next Thursday in the SunDome against today’s winner between White River and Sumner.

2A girls: EV defense bedevils Wolves

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — For much of Friday’s Class 2A state loser-out game against Wapato, East Valley’s Yasi Mohsenian didn’t seem to be part of the game.

At first she wasn’t part of it literally because of foul trouble, and then once on the floor the junior guard did something with great ease that no one else managed on the spacious court at Central Washington University’s Nicholson Pavilion.

Make shots.

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In a game unsettled by rugged defensive play and lid-covered shooting, Mohsenian made five consecutive baskets in the third quarter, four straight free throws in the final period and led the Red Devils to a 37-29 victory Friday afternoon.

East Valley managed just two field goals in the first half, trailed 11-8 at the break and fell back by five when Wapato scored the first basket of the second half.

But midway through the third quarter, Mohsenian took over.

She connected on back-to-back shots on spin moves into the paint to get EV even at 15-15, then buried the game’s only 3-pointer to put her team ahead for good.

With Mohsenian scoring on three consecutive possessions, the Red Devils broke out of their offensive funk with a 13-0 run. They made six baskets during the breakaway move and five the rest of the game.

“I had a couple of fouls in the first half and when that usually happens — I sit,” said Mohsenian, whose 19 points accounted for over half of EV’s total. “I was kind of upset about that. When I got back in there I just wanted to settle down and hit some shots.”

“In a game like this somebody has to step up with an individual effort and Yasi did that,” said EV coach Robi Raab. “Once we got some momentum and hit some free throws, we settled down.”

Hitting those free throws — 9 of 14 in the fourth quarter — turned out to be a big deal.

Despite a 0-for-14 blanking from 3-point distance and 16.7-percent shooting overall, Wapato battled its way back within 27-23 with three minutes left. The Wolves then forced two turnovers and had three chances to cut the margin to two.

But the missed opportunities and fouls finally caught up with Wapato, which had knocked off EV on its home court two weeks ago.

Tassia Merkle and Mohsenian made a pair of free throws each at the 1:39 and 1:14 mark, respectively, to restore a safe lead.

“I’m proud of the way the girls kept their composure,” Raab said. “They went back at them, and got some big rebounds at the end.”

Mikaela Zimmer scored six of EV’s eight points in the first half and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. Mohsenian not only led the game in scoring but also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

“We anticipated a tough game with Wapato — they always are,” Mohsenian said. “It was a struggle in the first half but we had more intensity in the third quarter. We got our offense going.”

Sammi Jo Blodgett scored 12 points for Wapato, which finished 15-10.

To reach next week’s state quarterfinals in Yakima, East Valley (20-5) must beat Ephrata (15-11) today at 1 p.m. at CWU. The Red Devils are 2-1 this season against the Tigers, who lost to Prosser in Friday’s top-seed game.

2/26/11 East Valley-Wapato photo gallery

Photos from Friday’s girls Class 2A state basketball game between East Valley and Wapato in Ellensburg, Wash.

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1A boys: Yellow Owl lifts Zillah

YAKIMA, Wash. — They’re typically referred to as butterflies, those little flutters of inner uncertainty athletes often feel in the moments heading into — or even during — an important game.

And for a bunch of state-tournament neophytes like the Zillah Leopards, those butterflies were everywhere prior to their Friday night Class 1A state-tournament opener against perennial state contender King’s at West Valley.

“We were all a little bit nervous,” admitted sophomore point guard Robert Slack. “We’ve only got two guys who have played in this kind of (state-tournament) game.”

One of those two state-tourney veterans, Joel Yellow Owl, was having butterflies as well. And he didn’t mind a bit.

“I love those kind of butterflies,” Yellow Owl said after sparking the Leopards to their 52-40 victory with 18 points, 10 of them coming during a decisive 18-5 run spanning 81/2 minutes of the third and fourth quarters.

Zillah (20-5) advances to a 3 p.m. game today against Lakeside (16-9), with the winner advancing to next Thursday’s state quarterfinals in the SunDome.

“For our seniors, we knew this was our last time around, and we wanted to make sure it didn’t end tonight,” Yellow Owl said. “And Slack, he’s only a sophomore, but he plays out there like he’s one of the seniors.”

Slack, Yellow Owl and the rest of the Leopards weren’t looking much like a team with a long tournament run ahead of it midway through the third quarter, when they trailed 26-24 — despite having jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first 41/2 minutes.

“We preached tempo the whole week, but it’s tough when you’re not making your shots,” Zillah coach Doug Burge said. “And (the Knights) are very deliberate.”

Four minutes into the second half, though, the Leopards finally turned up the speed of the game, with the über-quick Slack at the controls. Mitchell Zapien, who had struggled through 0-for-6 shooting in the first half, banked in a 14-footer, and Slack assisted on back-to-back baskets by Marco Rodriguez and Zapien.

“The coaches and everybody decided we needed to get the ball upcourt and run, because we knew they couldn’t keep up with us,” said Slack, who had six of his game-high seven assists during that second-half burst, two of them on transition passes to Yellow Owl.

“That’s the style of team we are. We like to get out and go.”

Scottie Riojas, one of Zillah’s four senior starters, had nine of his 13 points in the first half on three 3-pointers. Yellow Owl finished 7-for-11 from the field, and Zapien — the only Leopard besides Yellow Owl with state-tourney experience — made up for his off shooting night with a team-high nine rebounds and three assists.

 

1A girls: Granger overcomes shaky shooting

YAKIMA, Wash. — Ten-for-50.

That’s how the Granger girls shot from the field for slightly more than three quarters of their Class 1A state-tournament opener Friday night. And here’s the funny thing: They can laugh about it now.

An eight-point run midway through the fourth quarter — including a rare 3-for-4 shooting burst — helped the Spartans pull away to a 47-38 victory over a Cascade Christian team that was struggling nearly as much to make an open shot in the cavernous West Valley gymnasium.

“We did not shoot the ball well,” said Granger coach Andy Affholter, whose team will face Lakeside today at Eisenhower for a berth in next week’s quarterfinal round in the SunDome. “I was afraid of that, coming here with this backdrop.”

Affholter’s fears were realized when the Spartans missed 40 of their first 50 shot attempts, at which point they led just 32-31 with 61/2 minutes remaining in the game.

“We’ve never played in a place like this,” senior guard Italia Mengarelli said. “The backdrop is really different. It looks like you have to force it. You think you’re going to be too short on your shot, but then it turns out to be too hard.”

The only Spartan to have any semblance of shooting success was Fantasia Reyes, whose 22 points on 6-for-16 shooting included a 4-for-12 performance from beyond the 3-point stripe. But the shooting woes, Reyes said, simply made the Spartans bear down that much harder on defense.

“We knew we just had to work harder to get our stops down on defense,” Reyes said. “The defensive end, that’s where it’s the most important anyway.”

And it helped the Spartans to get their ace playmaker, Mengarelli, back on the floor after sitting for several minutes of the second half with four fouls — all of them picked up in the first half of the third quarter.

“I got four fouls in like three minutes,” said Mengarelli, who finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. “I didn’t have any fouls at halftime and I was thinking, all right, I can play my game without worrying about fouls, and then that happened.”

When Mengarelli returned to the game, the Spartans (21-4) held that slim 32-31 lead, and she immediately spotted sophomore post Lyndsay Oswalt underneath for a basket and a foul. On Granger’s next trip downcourt, Mengarelli penetrated and whipped a pass out to a wide-open Reyes, who buried the 3-pointer. When Reyes made a steal and layup 50 seconds later, the Spartans had a 40-31 lead, and the game was all but decided.

Cascade Christian (19-6) was led by Kaycee Creech’s 10 points and six rebounds.

The Spartans’ 1 p.m. game today is against Lakeside (17-10), a team that beat Granger 44-39 in the SunDome on Dec. 29. Mengarelli and Reyes both said they looked forward to the rematch.

“That was really early. That was only our third or fourth game of the year,” Mengarelli said. “Our bigs (the team’s post players, all freshmen and sophomores) didn’t even know what a post move was then.”

Class 1A: Mabton boys fall in OT

SPOKANE, Wash. — Mabton had the lead and the ball in the last half-minute of its Class 1A tournament opener at Mead, but the Vikings had the same problem in the final seconds they’d had all night: They couldn’t make the shot when it counted.

The Vikings missed the front end of a one-and-one and, after Chelan tied the game, couldn’t sink the potential game-winner at the end of regulation play and their cold spell continued in overtime, when they fell 58-50 to Chelan.

“We had our chances. We just couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket,” said Mabton coach Brock Ledgerwood, whose 19-5 team will face Cashmere (16-9) today in hopes of earning a berth in next Thursday’s quarterfinal round in the SunDome. “We got some good looks and couldn’t get our shots to fall. And theirs did.”

Guard Michael Amsel did most of the damage for Chelan, scoring 25 points, including scoring seven of the Goats’ 11 overtime points. Aaron McQuaid, one of the Goats’ two 6-foot-5 forwards, added 12 points and 13 rebounds.

Josh Sanchez scored 21 points for Mabton and Carmen Johnson added 12, while Roman Chavez baskets twice gave the Vikings the lead in the final 1 1/2 minutes of the game. But once the game reached overtime, it was all Chelan, with a 3-pointer by Amsel getting the Goats off to a fast start.

Goldendale boys fall to Cashmere

SPOKANE, Wash. — One Cashmere player’s hot hand left the Goldendale boys basketball team out in the cold Friday night at Mead High School.

Bulldogs junior Mitchell Darlington scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to lift Cashmere to a 58-52 victory in a Class 1A state loser-out game against the Timberwolves, who were making their first state appearance in 10 years.

Down four going into the final period, the Bulldogs rallied with Darlington — who was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in the quarter — leading the way.

Goldendale finished the season 19-6. The Timberwolves finished second (10-2) in a tough SCAC West, which saw three of its seven teams earn state berths.

“We didn’t want to go out this way,” said Goldendale’s Jay Thacker, who was voted the conference’s coach of the year, “but this is a great bunch of kids and they played their hearts out.”

Kaden Milliren, a second-team all-SCAC West selection, led the Timberwolves with 15 points and six rebounds.

Conference first-teamer Reed Lindhe added 14 points for the Timberwolves.

GIRLS

Okanogan turns back Zillah girls

SPOKANE, Wash. — Zillah’s Leopards put themselves in position to win, but in the end, they couldn’t convert shots when they needed to the most.

Kara Staggs scored 18 points, and Okanogan made 5 of 6 free throws in the waning minutes as the Bulldogs held off Zillah 50-46 in a Class 1A state girls loser-out state regional basketball game Friday at Mount Spokane High.

“It was a heartbreaker,” Leopards coach Mindi Winters said. “We definitely put ourselves in position to win, we just couldn’t get it done at the end.”

The loss overshadowed an outstanding effort by Zillah senior Alisi Uasike, who finished her prep career with a 26-point, 15-rebound night.

“That was by far her best game of the season,” Winters said. “It’s sad we couldn’t do the rest (to win).”

Zillah (13-12) used a 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to take the lead, and still led by two with less than three minutes to play.

But turnovers and missed shots allowed Okanogan (21-5) to overtake the Leopards and advance to the quarterfinals Thursday in the SunDome.

“That was a painful last two minutes because it really could’ve gone either way,” Winters said. “It was a sad ending because it was a hard-fought game.”

Basketball: CWU’s Sparling earns GNAC honor

YAKIMA, Wash. — Central Washington’s Greg Sparling has been named the GNAC’s co-coach of the year and Wildcat seniors Jamar Berry and Chris Sprinker have made the all-conference first team, the GNAC announced Friday.

Berry, a 6-foot-5 forward and Sprinker, a 6-9 center, were the only two players from the same school named to the first team.

Drew Harris, a senior point guard from Yakima, made the second team for 11th-ranked CWU, which finished its regular season 23-3 and will host a first-round GNAC Tournament game at 7 p.m. Monday against Montana State Billings.

 

Berry, from Tacoma’s Franklin Pierce High School and a transfer from Chaminade, was also named the conference’s newcomer of the year.

Saint Martin’s senior Blake Poole was named player of the year.

Sparling, in his 16th season as Central’s head coach, guided the Wildcats to their best winning percentage since Dean Nicholson’s 1969-70 team went 31-2 and finished second in the NAIA Tournament. He shared the coach of the year award with Northwest Nazarene’s Tim Hills.

The conference’s first tournament will feature the top eight teams with games at the site of the highest seed. In addition to Central’s game, other first-round matchups will find No. 2 Alaska Anchorage at home against No. 7 Saint Martin’s, No. 3 Seattle Pacific at home against No. 6 Western Oregon and No. 4 Western Washington at home against No. 5 Northwest Nazarene.

Second-round games, also at the sites of the highest seeds, are scheduled for Wednesday with the championship game set for 5 p.m. Friday.

The NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament will be held March 12-15. Central, presently the region’s top ranked team, will almost certainly host the tournament if it wins the GNAC event.

Local report: YVCC trio notch wins at nationals

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gustavo Lopez, Dillon Ford and Teagan Franco all recorded first-round victories for Yakima Valley on Friday during the first round of the NJCAA Wrestling Championships at the Spokane Convention Center.

Twp other Yaks, Brian Bitney and Ryan Campbell, lost by decision, Jack Calvert and Tito Gonzales were pinned and Sean Baker lost by default.

As a team, YVCC was tied for eighth out of 36 teams with eight points. North Idaho was the leader with 14.

Franco, wrestling at 184, pinned Jim Butler of Gloucester in 1:48. Lopez pinned Andrew Tillman of Spartanburg in 3:57 and Ford, at 165, beat Kyle Buckley of Labette, 12-4.

The tournament concludes today.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Yaks threesome honored

Yakima Valley’s Brittney Newcomb made the Eastern Region all-league first team while Mariah Roe and Yaks men’s standout Willie Blodgett earned second-team honors, the college has announced.

Roe, Blodgett, Ryan Dornik and Terrell Evans have also been selected to play in the NWAACC sophomore all-star games March 13 at Everett.

Yakima Valley’s Cody Butler will join Columbia Basin’s Cheryl Holden as Eastern Region coaches.

Also, in the upcoming NWAACC Tournament, YVCC’s men (15-10) will open against Peninsula (17-7) at 10 a.m. on March 5 while the Yaks women (19-7) will meet Bellevue (19-6) at 10 p.m.

The tournament runs March 6-8 at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

WSN Webcast: Davis boys-Gonzaga Prep

Webcast courtesy of Washington Sports Network. Visit their website by clicking here

Game starts at 9:15 p.m.

Live Broadcasting by Ustream Webcast courtesy of Washington Sports Network. Visit their website by clicking here

In a basketball State of mind

Eight Valley teams can punch tickets to state quarterfinals tonight ||

YAKIMA, Wash. — After 22 games with league and district championships, Davis’ boys basketball team is right back where it started the season — getting ready to play Gonzaga Prep.

Except now we’re not talking about a good preseason tuneup. This is for a direct shot into the Class 4A state quarterfinals next week in Tacoma.

Davis is one of the Valley’s eight top-seeded teams who, by virtue of their district performance last week, are positioned in first-round games tonight that reward the winner with five days of rest and a quarterfinal berth.

But the other 11 local teams face a much different task, needing loser-out victories tonight and Saturday to earn a spot among the final eight at Tacoma (4A, 3A), Yakima (2A, 1A) and Spokane (2B, 1B) when the new-format tournaments resume on March 3.

In regionalizing this first level of state, there is plenty to pick from locally tonight and Saturday with all of it being 2A and 1A, which feeds into the state finals next week in the SunDome.

Central Washington University is hosting a 2A regional that includes five local teams, and West Valley and Eisenhower will host 1A games.

CLASS 4A: Back on Dec. 4, Davis defeated Gonzaga Prep 59-46 in the SunDome Tip-Off Classic. The rematch between the two district champs is scheduled for 9:15 p.m. today — the last of a four-game schedule — at Richland High School.

Both teams are sporting 19-3 records, the Bullpups being a surprise entry in this No. 1-seed game. Gonzaga Prep avenged two league losses to second-ranked Ferris with a 58-50 win over the Saxons in the Spokane district final.

“Our kids are smart enough to understand what context to put that first game in,” said Davis coach Eli Juarez. “They had to travel and they were missing a couple of their guys. Both teams have grown and changed some.”

Parker Kelly and Chris Sarbaugh, who combined for 31 of GP’s 46 points against Davis, finished with league averages of 18.4 and 11.2, respectively. The Pirates are coming off defensive efforts of 35 and 52 points in its only two games over the last three weeks.

Should Davis fall tonight it would have a second shot at advancing on Saturday against the winner of today’s Evergreen-Ferris loser-out game. That game would be at Richland at 3 p.m.

Juarez believes his kids are ready for any scenario.

“One thing that has really clicked with these kids is our team concept and their chemistry,” he noted. “Down through our starters and bench, it’s better than last year. It’s not so much measured in shooting or defense — it’s that team intangible where we’ve improved.”

CLASS 2A: The CWU regional will be brutal for locals with back-to-back loser-out games today — East Valley’s girls taking on Wapato at 4 p.m. followed by Grandview’s boys facing Wapato at 5:45.

In both pairings this will be the fourth meeting with a distinct postseason turnaround. East Valley’s girls swept Wapato in CWAC play, then fell 49-43 in the district semifinals. Grandview’s boys swept Wapato en route to an unbeaten season, but the Wolves prevailed 47-43 in the district title game.

Once those gut-wrenchers are decided both survivors will have to win again on Saturday to gain entry into the quarterfinals.

Prosser’s top-ranked girls are in a top-seed game tonight at 7:30 p.m. against upstart Ephrata, a team the Mustangs (22-1) have defeated by 14, 27 and 19 points this season.

CLASS 1A: Three local SCAC teams are in the prime top-seed games at three regional sites in the Yakima area tonight.

La Salle’s unbeaten girls, now 23-0 following their district title win over Connell, will take on Lakeside at Eisenhower at 6 p.m.

“We’re really excited to be in Yakima close to the fan base,” said Lightning coach Alyssa Goins. “We’re very happy and fortunate to be sitting as a No. 1 seed. If you make a mistake you have a chance to make up for it the next day.”

Granger’s boys are in the same situation, at the same site and against the same school. The district-champion Spartans will face Lakeside at 8:30 p.m. at Eisenhower.

“What’s great is you can lose that first game and come through the losers bracket, get to the elite eight and the slate’s clean,” said Granger coach Miguel Bazaldua. “That’s a huge advantage.”

Mabton’s boys are in a top-seed game but traveling much farther, taking on Chelan today at 8 p.m. at Mead High School in Spokane.

Four other SCAC West teams — Zillah and Goldendale boys and Granger and Zillah girls — are in the single-elimination brackets.

Granger caught a break with the girls playing at West Valley at 6 p.m., allowing fans to attend both games. Zillah wasn’t as fortunate with its boys team at West Valley and girls in Spokane.

“Granger typically brings a lot of people to its games — man, it is so nice to be that close to home and not have to travel,” Bazaldua said. “It’s a huge for us.”

CLASS 2B: White Swan’s boys and girls are hoping to have two trips to Spokane — this weekend’s visit to University High School for the regional round followed by the Arena next week.

The eighth-ranked girls have the more direct route, playing a top-seed game tonight at 7:30 against No. 6 Waitsburg-Prescott. The boys are in the single-elimination bracket at 5:45 against Colfax.

Riverside Christian’s boys are trekking to the westside — the only local team to do so — to take on defending 2B state champ Pe Ell today at Mark Morris High School in Longview.

CLASS 1B: There’s plenty of symmetry between Sunnyside Christian’s boys and girls tonight.

Both are in top-seed games at Eastmont High School and both are playing Moses Lake Christian — the girls at 7:30 p.m. followed by the boys at 9:15. In a Dec. 18 doubleheader in Moses Lake, the Knights swept MLC with the boys prevailing 49-37 and the girls winning 38-23.

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