Mead has to play big to win big

STATE 4A BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

A tall order awaits Mead and I mean that literally.

Roosevelt’s Mackenzie Argens, the Riders’ 6-foot-3 senior center who is headed to the University of Washington, anchors the middle.

If the Panthers are to win, and play for fourth place Saturday at 1:30 p.m., freshman Alexis Olgard has to play like a veteran.

Lewis and Clark handed the Riders their first loss of the season Thursday night by disrupting their guards, causing turnovers and limiting Argens’ touches. As good as the Panthers’ guards have played this week, stopping penetrates hasn’t been their strong suit.

Jackson’s Kristi Kingma had an impressive 31 points on Wednesday, Kentwood’s Courtney Vandersloot topped that with 35 last night. For the Panthers to have a chance today, they have to keep Ariel Evans in front of them.

If they do that, Argens will have to earn her points with post moves, given Olgard and Kelli Valentine a chance to contest her shots.

If that happens, the Panthers have a shot at fourth place, because whichever team wins this game will defeat the Snohomish/Bothell winner.

For sure we’ll be back after the game with a link to the game story and we’ll post if events warrant it.

Tonight, we’ll go full bore on the Lewis and Clark girls’ semifinal with Kentwood, but, because we are covering the U-Hi game for the morning paper, the posts will be limited on that game and the Ferris boys’ game.