East Side’s Ultimate Top 10 List Tough Decisions Abound, But We Found Area’s Elite

When it comes time to take that last-second, game-winning shot, The Spokesman-Review’s first All-Area Washington basketball teams have plenty of candidates.

However, just like trying to pick an elite five, it would be difficult to choose the designated shooter when designing the play.

After countless basketball games, as many telephone calls and seemingly endless arguments, we came up with a boys team and a girls team guaranteed to make many coaches wish they could have these players, and many more willing to take them on with the talent left off.

Eligible players come from Spokane and bordering counties in Washington.

Interestingly, the two teams ended up with different looks.

The boys team is front-line dominated, with a representative from each of the four classifications. The more guard-oriented girls team consists of players from Class AAA and B schools.

Flashy Ryan Floyd, a 6-foot-1 senior guard from Sprague-Harrington, is the quarterback for the boys team. He has a strong cast of hard-working front-line players to work with.

Jason Smith, a 6-4 senior post from Mead, and Paul Mencke, a 6-5 junior post from Lewis and Clark, were the co-Most Valuable Players in the Greater Spokane League. Joe Deutsch, a 6-6 senior from State A runner-up Medical Lake and the Northeast A MVP, and Matt Smith, a 6-3 senior wing and Frontier League MVP from Colville, round out the team.

The hardest part was trying to determine which big man to leave off in the quest for a second guard.

The dilemma for the girls was just the opposite, adding another big forward/center to go with 6-1 Davenport star Jennifer Stinson, who scored more points (2,881) in her career than any other high school basketball player in Washington history.

To take advantage of Stinson’s outside shooting, the choice was 6-1 Ferris junior Jennifer Swinton, who was only second-team all-GSL, but was arguably the best post in the area at season’s end.

Guiding the team is Stacy Clinesmith, a 5-4 junior point guard from Mead who was MVP of the State AAA tournament. On the wings are Kelly Bartleson, a 5-10 senior from Shadle Park, who shared GSL MVP honors with Clinesmith, and versatile 5-9 sophomore Tricia Lamb of St. John-Endicott.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Cream of the crop The Spokesman-Review’s All-Area Washington basketball teams: Boys Name, school FG% FT% Rebs Asts Stls Pts. Joe Deutsch, Medical Lake 54.0 66.0 14.4 67 80 16.8 Ryan Floyd, Sprague-Harrington 47.0 65.0 7.0 6.1 4.0 19.8 Paul Mencke, Lewis and Clark 52.0 66.0 8.1 2.4 2.3 18.7 Jason Smith, Mead 62.0 79.0 6.1 1.6 1.6 17.9 Matt Smith, Colville 61.0 71.0 8.5 3.0 2.5 22.1

Girls Name, school FG% FT% Rebs Asts Stls Pts. Kelly Bartleson, Shadle Park 47.0 68.0 6.0 4.0 5.0 16.9 Stacy Clinesmith, Mead 48.0 75.0 3.0 4.0 3.5 16.2 Tricia Lamb, St.John-Endicott 42.0 64.0 6.1 2.7 2.3 18.6 Jennifer Stinson, Davenport 60.0 73.0 12.8 2.9 3.8 30.4 Jennifer Swinton, Ferris 48.0 67.0 8.3 3.2 2.3 10.9