SportsLink

The week begins again

Posted by Mike Vlahovich

Feb. 3, 2009 10:49 a.m. • 21 comments

Only two weeks remain in the league basketball season and very little has been settled in the Greater Spokane League. We know that Gonzaga Prep (15-2) is No. 1 among 4A schools and Shadle Park is a win away from being No. 1 among 3A teams. Behind them it’s anybody’s guess. Only team mathematically eliminated from post-season is University. East Valley kept itself slimly in the 3A hunt by beating the Titans and Mt. Spokane last weekend.

Also upcoming are district competitions for B teams. State 1B is just three weeks away. There’s no regional like last year. District 7 (Bi-County/Panorama Leagues) have four 1B and three 2B state berths. District 9 gets two and two.

State 4A eastern region has three state berths for boys and girls and 3A two this year. Great Northern League gets two teams to state (boys and girls). Northeast A combines with Caribou Trail League for three state spots.

4A district pits the No. 5 against the No. 4 in a loser-out game on Feb. 16. The winner will play Prep in double-elimination the next night. Central Valley (7-9) is the current No. 5. Caveat is the Bears are only a game out of second with four games left. Ferris, Lewis and Clark and Mead are all 8-8. No. 2 plays No. 3 in double elimination. Two advance to regional. As Bears coach Rick Sloan said, whoever’s hot at the end of the season will move on. Flip a coin.

Girls is a little more cut and dried. Lewis and Clark (16-0), winners of 49 straight, has a two-game lead over Mead, which has a two-game lead over Central Valley. That means the Panthers and Bears will meet and the Tigers will host the winner of Gonzaga Prep and University (both 9-8).

Shadle has a four-game lead over North Central with four left to play among 3A teams. The pair meet tonight in the Arena during the Groovy Shoes spirit night. Four teams are in and play a regional seeding tournament Feb. 18-19. No. 1 meets No. 4, No. 2 plays No. 3 then the winners and losers meet. The Highlanders (13-3), Indians (9-7) and Rogers (8-8) are in. Fourth spot is between Mt. Spokane (6-9) and the Knights (4-13).

21 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

jimmyball on February 03 at 2:06 p.m.
I hear Prep’s shooter is injured. They are a complete team and without him will not go as far as I would have thought.
Al_Loysius on February 03 at 2:51 p.m.
I know that I am beating a dead horse, but the article gives plenty of evidence that it makes no competitive sense to have separate 3A and 4A divisions in Washington high school sports, except MAYBE in football. Look at the GSL standings. the 3A teams are just as likely to beat their 4A counterparts as vice-versa.

WIAA is deciding right now how to deal with rising costs associated with having multiple tournaments. Cutting back the number of teams that go to state seems to be a sad alternative to simply getting rid of the extra divisions like 3A and 2B.

Finally, keep in mind that although the WIAA has some sponsors like the Dairy Farmers and Les Schwab, the lion’s share of the costs of the extra travel, rental, officials, etc for both boys and girls are borne by the taxpayers. I guess the schools must have solved all of their funding problems overnight, and there is no need for any worry about adequate funding for academic matters, teacher salaries, need to upgrade facilities, etc.

And don’t forget that having both a Class 3A and 4A really screws up regional berths for the GSL in many sports.
DPort on February 03 at 6:26 p.m.
Although not exact, a rough estimate of eliminating classifications (current is 6) and putting equal number of schools in each class would give the following results for Eastern Washington:

5 Classifications:
4A
11 total CBBN
Pasco HS Wenatchee HS Eisenhower HS Walla Walla HS Eastmont HS Kamiakin HS Kennewick HS Southridge HS
Davis HS Richland HS Moses Lake HS (plus add the new Pasco school next year)

7 total GSL
Lewis and Clark HS Mead HS Central Valley HS Ferris HS
University HS Gonzaga Preparatory HS Rogers HS

4 Classifications:
4A
12 total CBBN add
Hanford HS

10 total GSL add
Shadle Park HS
North Central HS
Mt Spokane HS
eastsidefan on February 03 at 9:57 p.m.
Jimmyball- Fischer only has a sprained ankle and will be back next week. With that said they played great ball against LC, didnt see the Mead game but the stat line looked good. They are solid period.

And D Port, Rogers is 3A this year.
Al_Loysius on February 03 at 10:23 p.m.
D Port, I would say that keeping the classifications equal is a non-issue. WIAA admins like nice, equal numbers regardless of rivalries, league alignments, competition, whatever. We had 4 classifications until about a decade ago and it was a great set-up for Eastern Washington and the GSL (and CBL too). Some years the classifications were roughly equal, some years they were not. Why should that matter? When you come right down to it, what point does it make for Shadle to be 3A and Ferris to be 4A? Except maybe in football where the 4A schools could ARGUABLY have an advantage, it sure does not make a differerence in basketball, volleyball, soccer, baseball, tennis, golf or cross-country.

How in the world did school administrators ever let themselves get talked into the extra classifications? Don’t they care about budgets at all?
DPort on February 03 at 10:57 p.m.
eastsidefan - read the post, the example is IF there were only 5 classifications, not like the 6 currently used. It just shows eliminating one classification wouldn’t change a lot at the current 4A level, but eliminating 2 classifications would. There is probably more impact to the 3A, 2A and 1A classes with a reduction in classifications.
eastsidefan on February 04 at 10:12 a.m.
For a change of pace,as we are almost finished with the regular season, I am going to open an informal poll of an all area first team (5) for both boys and girls. You can include a coach as well if you like.
Who do you think are the locks, who are the sleepers? Please a brief explanation as to why each candidate was chosen.
eastsidefan on February 04 at 10:15 a.m.
Please note that I called it an all area team not an all GSL team. Not that it couldnt be if that is how you see fit but I wanted to be inclusive of everyone. Thanks
jimmyball on February 04 at 10:36 a.m.
My all area team is really all GSL since that’s the highest level and the best competition.
!st Team: Brown-Shadle-MVP
Johnson-Mt. Spokane
Nicholas-GPrep
Fischer-GPrep
Vaughan-Rogers
Coach-Wood-Rogers

2nd Team: Taylor-LC
Stockton-GPrep
Long-GPrep
Halliday-Ferris
Barnes-Shadle
tyschmidt on February 08 at 6:19 p.m.
Girls-

1st team:

Katelyn Loper - Post Falls
Jasmine Redmon - Mead
Jeneva Anderson - LC
Tifa Puletasi - Mead
Tia Presley - GPrep
Coach - B Olsen - Ferris……….serioulsy, he should be banished!
Coach - Jim Redmond - LC

2nd Team:

Kendra Knutsen - Shadle
Chelsea Chandler - Shadle
Carley Heinen - Freeman
Carly Rosenthal - CDA
Daisy Burke - LC
Coach - Regan Drew - Mead
ferris4life on February 08 at 8:35 p.m.
Simply put, Ferris needs a new girls coach. You are right, tyschmidt, Coach Barry Olsen is a total joke. There is no explaining this total lack of competence. Whoever the Athletic Director is now, Crabb when I went, needs to take this situation seriously. This coach needs replaced now!!!! Medical Lake just replaced their girls coach. Ferris needs to do the same!
GSLFan on February 09 at 6:56 a.m.
Sarah Kliewer from LC is an obvious omission. Univ of Portland-bound and consistently the leading scorer/rebounder for the Tigers.

With 3 state championships to boot.
tyschmidt on February 10 at 10:36 p.m.
GSLFan- I agree, Sarah is solid. Feel free to make your own teams.