Here is the complete coverage of the District 4 2A Girls Basketball Tournament. The latest game results, stories and pics will appear at the top of the page and be updated after every round through the run of the tournament.
FRIDAY, FEB 16 DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIP
Game #12: WF West 66, Black Hills 44
The WF West Bearcats have had their own way with the Evco 2A league from start to finish and found themselves facing a familiar foe in the Black Hills Wolves for the 3rd time this season. In the 2 previous meetings the Bearcats outscored the Wolves 144-79 winning by 32 in the 1st game and 33 the 2nd time through. The Bearcats have blasted their opponents in the 1st 2 games of the District tournament averaging 91 points beating Woodland 88-35 and Mark Morris 95-37, and that was after trailing the Monarchs 9-5 3 minutes into the game.
So why would this game be any different and although you may not see it by simply looking at the final score it was far different. First, Black Hills had Maisy Williams back for the 1st time against the Bearcats. Williams was so highly regarded by all the coaches they voted her to the 1st team All-league team even though she only played a few games after breaking her jaw prior to the season in the jamboree.
Having Williams back and simply the development of this Wolves squad made them a better team than the Bearcats had faced before and you might be surprised to learn that the score at halftime was WF West 27, Black Hills 26. The Wolves came to play in the 1st half and were led by Megan River who scored 14 of her game high 18 points.
The Bearcats struggled to get into a groove and were doing things they hadn’t done all season like Erika Brumfield got tagged with a 2nd foul early in the 1st quarter limiting her action and several missed passes and blown lay-ins. Coach Tom Kelly was mixing up his line-up trying to find the spark. Julia Johnson was the guiding light for the Bearcats in the 1st half scoring 10 of her 17 points. Taya McCallum also had a solid effort off the bench coming in for Brumfield playing tight defense and grabbing several rebounds.
The halftime speech coach Kelly delivered was one he had not had to present very often but focused his squad on what it was that got them to this point of the season. They came out with re-newed vigor and stepped up the pressure on the Wolves and began getting those all-important transition baskets and fast break opportunities. Plus the smothering defense limited the Wolves to just 8 points in the 3rd while running up 26 pushing the lead to 53-34 and they would never look back.
WF West cruised through the 4th for the District Championship. Courtney Bennett led the 2nd half and well balanced bust out with 9 points while McCallum scored 8, Johnson and Maggie Vadala with 7. Kiara Steen finished with 9 but her full court pressure resulted in several turnovers and easy buckets for Cats.
Black Hills, although sputtering in the 2nd half flashed signs of great improvement and this team with only 1 Senior looks like a team on a big time upswing. River had 18 and Jordan Bender added 9 while Williams scored 8 to lead the Wolves.
Both teams are headed for Regionals and WF West to the Yakima Sun Dome while the Wolves are holding on to the 8th and final spot that would automatically send them to Yakima. If they drop after today’s games they will need to win at Regionals next week to get to Yakima.
Our Pacific Sports Spa Players of the Game went to the Bearcats Taya McCallum and the Wolves Megan River. The Thorebeckes Sportsmanship Award of the Game went to WF Wests’ Kiara Steen and Julia Johnson.
Photo Gallery
SATURDAY DAY, FEB 17 CONSOLATION ROUND LOSER OUT
Game #11: Washougal 52, Woodland 36
After a slow start leading just 8-6 after the 1st quarter the Washougal Panthers edged out to a 9 point halftime lead again holding the Beavers to single digits. Woodland’s offensive woes continued in the 3rd being held to just 9 and Washougal led 34-21 after 3. The Panthers put together their best offensive quarter in the final with 18 pulling away for the easy win and advancing to the Regional play-offs.
The Panthers ended up the 10 seed and will face 15 seeded Fife 4pm Saturday afternoon at Battle Ground in a winner to state, loser out contest. Woodland had their season come to an end.
Washougal was led by Alexis Maniscalco’s 10 points. A total of 9 Panthers scored in the well distributed offense, Beyounce Bea and Emillee Smart each had 8, Maggie Hungerford 7 and Skylar Bea with 6. Woodland’s Nicole Guthrie had a game high 12 and Kaily Christensen added 7.
Our Pacific Sports Spa Players of the Game went to Washougal’s Alexis Maniscalco and co-players of the game went to the Beavers 2 seniors McKenna Flanagan and Dana Glovick. The Thorebeckes Sportsmanship Award went to the Panthers Beyounce Bea.
Photo Gallery
WEDNESDAY, FEB 14 CONSOLATION ROUND LOSER OUT
Game #9: Washougal 64, Mark Morris 49
Game #10: Woodland 40, Columbia River 34
MONDAY, FEB 12 SEMI-FINALS/CONSOLATION ROUND
RA Long High School
Game 5: Washougal 65, Hockinson 39
Game 8: WF West 95, Mark Morris 37
The Panthers bounced back big time after being upset in the opening round to advance in the consolation bracket while the Hawks had their season come to an end. Washougal now faces the number 2 seed from the south Mark Morris on Wednesday in a loser out.
Mark Morris fell into the consolation bracket after losing to powerful WF West. The Monarchs led early in this game 9-5 but then it was all Bearcats who finished on a 90-28 run to send a message statewide that they may be the #2 RPI seed but don’t count on it. The Bearcats will face Black Hills for the District Championship on Friday night at St Martins University at 6p. Both teams have already advanced to the Regional round of the State Tournament. The Bearcats will also head to Yakima as at least the #2 RPI seed.
For more on the Washougal/Hockinson game read it here in the Columbian.
Mark Morris High School
Game 7: Black Hills 57, Columbia River 31
In game one of the ESN double-header on Monday night the Black Hills Wolves had a game plan in place and that was to come out hard and strong on the Chieftains who were the surprise of the 1st round. Columbia River beat Tumwater in the play-in game as the 5th place team in the GSHL 2A league. The Wolves followed their game plan to a tee quickly running up a big lead with pressure defense and finishing transition buckets. It took them 5-seconds t score when Megan River laid up the ball off the tip. Lindsey Nurmi scored a laying 20-seconds later on a steal and BH ran up a 24-6 lead after the 1st quarter and never looked back.
The return of Maisy Williams has been huge as she continues to round into form and she finished with 10. The other big improvements has been the play of sophomores Jordyn Bender and River. Both are getting better everytime they hit the court. Jr Kennedi Greenfield also is making an impact in the paint with strong rebounding and a surprisingly soft touch shot that she is deadly at from 15-feet and in. Alexa Bovenkamp is yet another who is super reliable from close in and in fact led all scorers with 12, 10 of those in the 1st half. Bender was super-solid on defense as well so with her 11 points and all-around performance she earned our Pacific Sports Spa Player of the game for Black Hills.
Columbia River, also a young team never gave up and were led by Sydney Flores-Tucker with 9 points. Liz Canton, Erin Baker and Jordyn Ryan were impressive with their efforts in this game that got away from them early but they never allowed it to get to a running clock like it looked like it might and they never gave in, great signs for a young team learning the ropes. Flores-Tucker was named our PSS Player of the game.
Lindsey Nurmi the lone senior for the Wolves was named our Thorebeckes Sportsmanship award for the game. Black Hills now has WF West waiting for them on Friday night. It has not gone well for the Wolves so far against WFW but this will be the first time these 2 teams will meet with Black Hills at full strength with Maisy. Plus the improvement of the Bender, River, Greenfield and Bovenkamp could make this a totally different game. Black Hills is hanging on to the #8 RPI seed and last night’s win coupled with the Bearcats beating Mark Morris who are #9 expanded their lead and doesn’t look like they can be knocked out of the 8 spot.
The 8th spot is huge because it guarantees Black Hills a trip to Yakima, win or lose at Regionals. They probably don’t want to move up to the 7 seed to tell you the truth because that would mean they would play WF West in the Regionals if the Bearcats stay at #2. Right now the Wolves will get East Valley of Spokane as the #1 seed in the Regionals and WF West would face Lynden. But Lynden is less than a half a percentage point ahead of Black Hills.
Game 6: Woodland 69. Centralia 59
A big 3rd quarter doomed the Tigers as both teams battled back and forth through the 1st half. Both teams had leads at times but the Beavers ended up leading by 4 at the break. The key run came at the beginning of the 3rd quarter when Kaily Christensen ran off 6 straight points to push Woodland’s lead to double digits and the Tigers never got closer than 7 points again.
When the Tigers did creep back within 7 it was Kelly Sweyer who answered the bell knocking down a quick 7 in her own points surge with a 3-bomb. Sweyer and Christensen average a combined 8 points per game but in this one they hit for 24 with Christensen scoring 15 and Sweyer 9 or 3 times what they normally score. Nicole Guthrie led the Beavers with a solid game of 16, Payten Foster finished with 13 and McKenna Flanagan added 10. Coach Glen Flanagan says when you get that type of point production you’re going to be tough to beat. Flanagan also credited his defense in creating several scoring opportunities with steals and in transition.
Centralia was led by seniors Ellie Corwin and Rachel Wilkerson who scored 41 of the 59 points. Corwin had 25 and Wilkerson 16. The Tigers kept trying to make a run at the Beavers in the 4th quarter but time and again Woodland would hit a key shot or sink their free throws, Woodland finished 14-16 from the line to seal the win.
Woodland extends their season for at least one more game and play Columbia River on Wednesday in a loser out. Our Pacific Sports Spa Players of the Game went to Woodland’s Kaily Christensen and co-winners for Centralia, Rachel Wilkerson and Ellie Corwin. Out Thorebeckes Sportsmanship award winner went to the Beavers’ Kelly Sweyer.
Monday’s Photo Gallery Black Hills vs C River and Woodland vs Centralia
FRIDAY, FEB 9 1ST ROUND
Game 1: Black Hills 59, Hockinson 51
(Tumwater, WA) The Black Hills Wolves maybe playing with a bit of play-off jitters as they come into the post-season at full strength with the return of Maisy Williams after she broke her jaw in the jamboree and missed almost the entire regular season. The Wolves looked like they were going to put away the pesky Hawks a couple of times leading by 14 late in the 1st half only to see Hockinson surge and cut that deficit in half by the break.
In the 2nd half again Black Hills pulled away to a double digit lead but Hockinson came roaring back again pulling once again within 7. Then with about 2:30 to play in the game the Hawks had cut the lead down to 1 possession trailing 47-44 when Hawks Senior Payton Wangler drilled a 3 to tie it. It was a huge shot and it pushed the 4-year starter’s career point total to 1,002.
Black Hills then got some late game heroics from Megan River who had been held surprisingly scoreless. In the final 2 minutes of the game River went off with 2 huge shots from the behind the arc and 2 free throws to clinch the win for the 2nd seeded Wolves and avoid the loss from the upset minded Hawks. River was put into the position of being able to score those shots from another true team effort. Alexa Bovenkamp was big early scoring the 1st 6 points of the game for BH and finishing with 10. Kennedi Greenfield and Maisy Williams both had 12 to lead the team and a total of 8 scored. Lindsey Nurmi had 6 but her defense and assists helped the cause tremendously and played in foul trouble for most of the game.
Hockinson’s Wangler finished with 14 and had strong support from Emma Dietel and Jasmine Shigeno each with 9. Hawks leading scorer Grace Russell struggled in this one due to Black Hills focusing on taking her out of the game but she was very effective in rebounding and assists while going 6-8 from the line.
Black Hills will next face Columbia River on Monday in the District Semi-Finals with the winner to state while Hockinson will have to take on #1 seed Washougal in a loser out game after the Panthers were upset by 4-seed CR. Our Pacific Sports Spa Players of the Game went to Kennedi Greenfield for Black Hills and Payton Wangler for the Hawks and Megan River of Black Hills got the Thorebeckes Sportswoman of the game award.
Game 2: Columbia River 50, Washougal 45
The Chieftains finished 5th in the GSHL and had to beat Tumwater on Monday just to get into the District Tournament and stunned #1 seed Washougal. The Chieftains are 1 win from going to state taking on Black Hills on Monday in the Semi-Finals. Washougal now has to slug their way thru the consolation bracket taking on a tough Hockinson team in a loser out on Monday. For more on this story check out the story in the Columbian by Micah Rice.
Game 3: Mark Morris 59, Centralia 41
The Monarchs rolled to the win over 3 seeded Centralia and will have a bigtime showdown with powerful WF West in the District Semi-Finals, 7:45 at RA Long. The Tigers drop into the consolation and face Woodland in a loser out at Mark Morris. Both games on Monday night. More on this story can be found here in the Daily News by Joshua Hart.
Game 4: WF West 88, Woodland 35
The #2 ranked team in the state left no doubt they are the team to beat in the District Tournament as they rolled to a 50+ point win over the Beavers. The Bearcats now play Mark Morris in the District Semi-final with the winner headed for state. The 2 teams played back in early December and the Bearcats cruised to a 94-35 win over the Monarchs. Woodland drops into the consolation brackets on Monday against Centralia in a loser out contest. For more on this game you can read Matt Baide’s story on the Chronicle’s Lewis County Sports blog.
WEDNESDAY, FEB 7 Play-In Game, Loser Out
Game #A: Columbia River 65, Tumwater 41
(Tumwater, WA) The Chieftains ended the T-Birds season and advanced to the District Tournament where they will face Washougal in the opening round of the double elimination bracket on Friday night at 7p.