District 8 Picture Starts To Take Shape

GSL basketball

The high school basketball season got longer for four Greater Spokane League teams on Tuesday night, but for most of them, it wasn’t easy.

In the first-round loser-out games of the District 8 tournament at the Arena, the Mead and Lewis and Clark boys and Central Valley and Shadle Park girls survived.

Now they move into two days of seeding games for next week’s regional tournament with the Big Nine.

“When they’re in a do-or-die situation, they’re really quite good,” LC coach Glenn Williams said, referring to his Tigers.

Mead coach Jim Preston, whose team stayed alive by making 13 of 20 free throws in the fourth quarter, credited experience.

“That shows character,” Preston said. “This team was there last year and the experience showed against a good Shadle Park team that will be there next year.”

The Mead boys beat Shadle Park 52-45 before the LC boys topped Prep 51-44.

On the girls’ side, Central Valley ran it up against University 70-26 and Shadle Park held on against Gonzaga Prep 50-46.

Action resumes on Thursday at the Arena with the league champions (Ferris boys and Mead girls) and runnersup (CV boys and Ferris girls) joining the fray.

Boys

Mead 52, Shadle Park 45

The Panthers (12-9) scored the first seven points of the second half to get some breathing room after a 24-24 tie and then made enough clutch free throws down the stretch to stop the Highlanders (10-12).

Adam Morris made 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter and the Panthers only basket for all of his 10 points.

The other difference was in rebounding. Ralph Castaneda had 10 rebounds as Mead had a sizeable edge over the Highlanders.

“One of the things was we had better shot selection at crucial points,” said Preston, whose team had lost six of seven and three straight entering the playoffs. “Sometimes we shot too quick (during the skid) trying to right the thing … and that was the wrong approach. I guess some of the obituaries were a little premature.”

Jason Myers gave the Panthers a big boost off the bench in the first half with five points and five rebounds and helped hold Chris Anderson, Shadle’s top scorer, to 10 points.

Shadle Park 8 16 9 12 - 45

Mead 12 12 13 15 - 52

SHADLE PARK Dunham 2 1-1 6, Cook 6 6-7 22, Kingsbury 1 0-1 2, Pate 1 0-0 3, Baune 0 0-0 0,Anderson 3 2-2 10, Mohr 1 0-0 2, Jones 0 0-0 0, Hann 0 0-0 0, Hipps 0 0-0 0, Beal 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-11 45. MEAD Morris 1 8-10 10, Klaus 1 2-3 4, Armitage 3 2-2 10, West 0 0-0 0, Long 3 2-5 9, Eggers 0 0-0 0, Walton 0 2-2 2, Castaneda 5 2-3 12, Myers 2 1-2 5. Totals 15 19-27 52. 3-point goals - Dunham, Cook 3, Pate, Anderson 2, Armitage 2, Long. Total fouls - SP 23, Mead 16. Fouled out - Dunham, Anderson.

LC 51, Gonzaga Prep 44

The Tigers (14-7) used an 8-2 run at the end of the third quarter to open a 39-31 lead against the Bullpups (13-8) and then made some clutch shots.

“They did a good job of getting the ball to Paul Mencke, giving him touches,” Williams said. “In the last week the kids committed to playing hard, aggressive defense. They realize the harder the play on defense and the more they play as a team on offense, the better they’ll be.”

Gonzaga Prep 8 17 6 13 - 44

Lewis and Clark 15 11 13 12 - 51

GONZAGA PREP Kocharhook 1 0-0 2, Dixson 0 0-0 0, Thielman 0 1- 2 1, Powell 2 0-0 4, P.Sweeny 4 6-7 14, Herrin 4 0-0 8, McFarland 4 3-4 11, Hartnett 2 0-0 4. Totals 17 10-13 44. LEWIS AND CLARK Steuckle 0 0-0 0, Homer 5 2-4 12, Lynch 2 4-4 8, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Etter 1 3-4 5, Vick 2 0-0 4, Adams 0 0-0 0, Stack 1 1-2 3, Mencke 7 5-5 19. Totals 18 15-19 51. 3-point goals - none. Total fouls - GP 18, LC 14. Fouled out - none.

Girls

Central Valley 70, University 26

The Bears (17-3) used their full-court press through three quarters to force 31 turnovers and forced 44 in all to roll past the Titans (9-11).

The Bears went on two 8-0 runs in the first quarter to open a 16-2 lead and closed the half with 10 to lead 37-12. The press helped them push the lead to 52-20 after three quarters.

Central Valley scored 46 points after U-Hi turnovers and kept attacking to get 11 of those in the fourth.

University 5 7 8 6 - 26

Central Valley 16 21 17 16 - 70

UNIVERSITY Stuenkle 1 0-0 2, Jamison 0 1-2 1, Vlahovich 0 0-0 0, Yost 0 0-0 0, Whitney 0 0-0 0, Conant 1 4-4 7, Wilson 0 0-2 0, Hinckley 3 0-0 6, Oglesbee 1 1-2 3, Perno 3 0-0 6, Andrezzi 0 1-2 1. Totals 9 7-12 26. CENTRAL VALLEY Kallas 3 2-2 9, Carpenter 0 0-0 0, Ault 1 1-2 3, Clark 5 6-7 16, Macphee 3 1-2 7, Sanders 5 2-2 12, Shoquist 0 0-1 0, Dahlgren 0 0-0 0, Lee 7 1-3 15, White 0 0-0 0, Coyle 1 0-0 2, Jackson 2 2-2 6. Totals 27 15-21 70. 3-point goals - Conant, Kallas. Total fouls - U-Hi 15, CV 12. Fouled out - none.

Shadle Park 50, Gonzaga Prep 46

The Highlanders (12-9) opened a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter before the Bulllpups (11-10) battled back.

“Our defense sparked our offense and we tried to shut down their big girls,” Shadle Park senior JoEne Heimbigner said. “Then we had to settle back down. We had one quarter left in our season. We had to go back out and do what we knew how to do.”

Johanna Alexander scored the Highlanders’ first six points of the third quarter then Jennifer Williams got hot for Prep. Williams, who sat out the first quarter, scored all 14 of her points after the Bulllpups fell behind by 14.

A free throw by Williams tied the game at 35 less than a minute into the fourth quarter but Prep could never get over the top.

Gonzaga Prep 6 8 18 14 - 46

Shadle Park 8 12 15 15 - 50

GONZAGA PREP Jordan 3 0-0 7, Bradley 2 0-0 4, Bloom 0 1-2 1, Cronin 1 0-2 2, Main 1 2-2 4, Kendrick 0 0-0 0, Hession 0 0-0 0, Williams 6 2- 5 14, Palmer 4 0-0 6, Nadeau 3 0-0 6, Green 0 1-2 1. Totals 20 5-11 46. SHADLE PARK Larkin 0 0-0 0, Christensen 3 1-2 7, Pilkington 2 2-3 6, Heimbigner 5 0-0 14, Drake 3 1-1 7, Alexander 2 2-4 7, Clary 1 0-0 3, Potter 0 0-1 0, Johnson 2 2-3 6, Harchuck 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-14 50. 3-point goals - Jordan, Heimbigner 4, Alexander, Clary. Total fouls - GP 16, SP 11. Fouled out - Christensen.

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