Gsl Teams See Double-Double
When the new arena opens in Spokane next fall, the Greater Spokane League will open with a basketball double-doubleheader. That’s not to be confused with the current quadrupleheaders.
The league season is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Dec. 12, with both courts down in the arena. A boys game and girls game, involving four different schools, will be followed by two more games involving boys and girls
Because of the cost of putting two basketball courts down, that date will likely feature the only double-doubleheader.
The GSL will play 10 of its 18 dates in the new arena. There are four Friday nights and one Thursday during Christmas break at the arena. There are also three Tuesdays with quadrupleheaders, when the first game begins at 3:55 p.m. and the last game starts at 9.
Coaches are more concerned with playing home-and-home, or both games on neutral sites, than they are with starting times.
Gonzaga Prep and University play in the arena six times in 16 league games; the other seven league members play four arena games.
The schedule is tentative.
A little something extra in your paycheck
There have been nine overtime games in the GSL this season, eight involving boys teams and four of those including Central Valley.
The CV boys lost a single-overtime game to Lewis and Clark, beat G-Prep in double-overtime, lost to LC in triple-overtime and lost to Mead in double-overtime. The CV girls lost to Ferris in triple-overtime.
The Ferris boys beat G-Prep and Shadle Park in OT and lost to Rogers. Rogers, which played its two overtime games back-to-back, lost to Mead. CV’s second loss to LC and a loss to Mead were also in consecutive games.
Couldn’t help but notice
Sometimes the numbers don’t add up.
Recently, Davenport star Jennifer Stinson scored 42 points, 26 in the second half of the Gorillas’ 91-23 Bi-County girls basketball victory over Sprague-Harrington.
That means Stinson only had 16 in the first half, when Davenport opened a 39-8 lead. The Gorillas outscored S-H 19-0 in the third quarter, making the lead 58-8. Even if Stinson scored all 19 Davenport points, she had to play long enough in the fourth quarter to get seven more.
The question is, why?
It appears Stinson is going to become the alltime high school scoring leader in Washington, passing the 2,753 points compiled by Kate Starbird at Lakes High near Tacoma.
Davenport is likely to play for a state trophy, giving the Gorillas 10 more games. Averaging more than 30 points per game, Stinson will need to average just 16 down the stretch to pass Starbird. She currently has 2,589 points.
An opportunity like that only comes along once in a lifetime, but at what expense does a record need to be set?
The race is on
The GSL scoring races are close, with the leaders having two or three games left.
Paul Mencke of LC leads the boys with a 19.2 average and three games to play. Shadle Park’s Rob Debeaumont is at 17.8 with two games left.
Shadle Park’s Kelly Bartleson is leading the girls with a 17.5 average and two games left. Emily Ireland of Ferris is at 16.8 with three to go. At her current pace, Ireland would tie former Mead standout Colleen Flanigan on the GSL career scoring list with 628 points.
Sifting through the wreckage
With the boys standings in a mess, a couple of key games stand out. Just to make the District 8 playoffs, next Tuesday’s Shadle Park-University and North Central-Rogers games are important.
Mead just needs to win once to capture its first outright league title since the GSL was formed in 1976-77. (The Panthers tied for the ‘88 crown.) That would give the Panthers a spot in the regional tournament. The second-place team also earns a spot in the regional, but LC, G-Prep, Ferris and CV all have eight wins. Key games include Ferris vs. LC at the Coliseum today, Ferris at Prep and Mead-LC at the Coliseum on Tuesday and CV at Prep in the season finale next Thursday.
The girls district playoff spots are secure, with Mead and Shadle Park heading for a showdown at the Coliseum next Thursday with the league title on the line. Mead won the first game, played at Spokane Falls CC. Ferris probably has third secured, but going into the last game, a Ferris win at U-Hi and a CV loss at Prep could forge a threeway tie for fourth, clouding the district pairings when third plays sixth and fourth plays fifth in loser-out games.
No thrillah for Zillah
In late January, the Zillah boys lost their first basketball home game in more than three years. River View notched the road win to pull within one-half game of Zillah in the Yakima League East.