Shadle, Nc Match Up In Groovy Shoes Game
Everything will be groovy this afternoon when Shadle Park and North Central meet in Greater Spokane League basketball.
The two schools play in the annual Groovy Shoes spirit game, with the girls beginning at 3:45 p.m. and the boys following at 5:30 p.m. Both games are in the Spokane Arena.
Actually, things were pretty groovy last week as well for the boys, who had big wins to keep them very much in the GSL playoff hunt.
Young Shadle Park has gone on a four-game winning tear, including victories over the league’s third and second place teams.
Tuesday night the streaking Highlanders beat runner-up Mead 58-47 to even their league record at 6-6 and tighten up the standings between the second- through seventh-place teams.
Coupled with an earlier 64-55 victory over Lewis and Clark, Shadle now shares fifth place.
The North Side school is tied with Central Valley and is within two games of Mead in the GSL.
Nate Dunham, who followed his brother, Graham, from Northwest Christian, has led Shadle Park. He had 26 points, hitting 14 of 17 free throws, against LC, and 20 against Mead. He scored 64 points in the past three games.
The young Highlanders have but two players with previous varsity experience on their roster.
By contrast, North Central has four third-year players and three others who lettered prior to Coach Jay Webber’s arrival.
Last week they helped NC stun runner-up Mead 51-49 to become one of six GSL teams after four playoff spots.
One of those, Adam Hieb, earned his letter at Ferris before transferring. His 19-point effort led the Indians, and third-year players Jerry Holdren and Brandyn Blanchat were vital contributors.
The Indians failed to move up on the pack Tuesday, however, losing to CV 53-45 after leading at half. NC is 4-7 in league.
Wrestling districts this weekend
North Side schools will be involved in district wrestling competition this weekend.
Top four wrestlers from each will advance to regional competition where state berths are determined.
Mead hosts the 16-team Greater Spokane League event and has a strong tournament team with six number one or two seeds. Included are unbeatens Lyle Beerbohm, James Clark and Spender Smith.
North Central’s David Sandberg, Casey Beville, Mike Caballero, Brian Burrow and Mike Roberts are the Indians’ best bets to advance.
Rogers won’t have a lot of high seeds, but could advance a bundle of athletes to regional, including Daryn Steeneck and Nick Fuller at 129, and James Dawe and Tristan Beeman.
Among Shadle Park hopefuls are Casey Laughary and Sabino Hernandez.
Competition begins at 4 p.m. on Friday and resumes at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Riverside will have three top-seeded wrestlers in the Frontier League tournament, 141-pounder Paul Purcell, 158-pound Dan Kruger and 168-pound Matt Morin.
Competition is in Pullman beginning Friday at 5 p.m. and continuing on Saturday.
Northeast A schools Lakeside and Deer Park are traveling to Ritzville Saturday at 10 a.m. with 35 competitors.
The Eagles have 18, including seven number one seeds and three number twos. Deer Park’s 17 wrestlers include four number ones and one number two.
“Jason Cummings at 190 and Craig Downey at 178 were surprises,” said Lakeside coach Scott Jones. “Everything else went about as planned.”
In three weights Jones envisions Lakeside wrestlers facing each other in the semifinals.
“It’s a weird situation,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
If it happens, Jones must decide whether the teammates wrestle or if one forfeits, putting the other in the finals and keeping each fresh for their next match.
It’s a dilemma a lot of coaches would like to have.
Second chance for hoop teams
Riverside and Lakeside’s girls basketball teams get a second chance against teams that defeated them earlier this year.
The Rams, who lost for the first time in the Frontier League last weekend, host Cheney next Tuesday in a first-place rematch.
Lakeside, which lost by two points earlier this year to Colfax for its only defeat, entertains the Bulldogs Friday with undisputed first place on the line.
, DataTimes