Cheney, Riverside Inch Closer To State

Frontier League

Cheney’s girls put themselves one step closer to a return trip to the State AA basketball tournament Saturday night, and the Riverside boys put themselves one step closer to their first.

On the second night of the Excell District 7 tournament at Eastern Washington University’s Reese Court, the regular-season champion Blackhawks defeated stubborn fourth-seed Pullman 53-45 as Lisa Anderson scored 14 second-half points. After that, No. 3 Riverside knocked off West Valley’s boys 65-60.

Earlier Saturday, East Valley’s girls eliminated Riverside 33-31 and the Cheney boys ousted Pullman 58-55. Loser-out games Wednesday night at EWU will match EV and Pullman in a 5 p.m. girls game and the WV-Cheney boys at 7.

The tournament will conclude next Friday and - if necessary - Saturday, with Cheney and Riverside needing one victory each against Wednesday’s winners.

Girls

Cheney 53, Pullman 45

The Blackhawks, outsized inside, had a tough time with the Greyhounds, who trailed by five points in the second period but came back to take a short-lived 27-25 lead early in the third.

That’s when Anderson took over, scoring eight straight Cheney points as the Blackhawks (19-3) took a 33-27 lead. They added a couple of 3-point baskets and led 43-32 after three periods.

The gap was 11 with 6 minutes left when the Greyhounds went to work inside on the shoulders of 6-foot-3 senior Natalie Weeks, who scored nine fourth-quarter points and finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocked shots.

Pullman closed within six with 2:51 left, but Anderson nailed two straight jumpers to push the lead back to 10. .

Pullman 11 12 9 13 - 45

Cheney 14 11 18 10 - 53

PULLMAN Nelson 0 0-0 0, Umbreit 1 0-0 2, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Schlettert 0 0-0 0, Weeks 9 2-3 20, Montez 5 2-4 12, Wilde 4 1-2 9. Totals - 20 5-9 45.

CHENEY Ewing 3 1-3 5, Bifano 1 0-0 2, Weitman 2 0-0 5, Getz 7 0-0 18, Anderson 7 3-4 17, Krogln 0 0-2 0. Totals - 22 4-11 53.

3-point goals - Getz 4, Weitman. Total fouls - Pullman 11, Cheney 10. Fouled out - none.

East Valley 33, Riverside 31

The fourth-seeded Knights (12-10) surprised No. 2 Riverside (13-9), which scored only 64 points in two tournament losses. Neither team had a scorer in double figures.

EV led by seven with less than 3 minutes to play, and a key 3-pointer down the stretch by Linsay Porter helped preserve the Knights’ lead.

Riverside (13-9) had plenty of chances, but made only two fourth-quarter field goals and 4 of 13 from the line. Riverside 10 3 8 10 - 31 East Valley 6 8 9 10 - 33 RIVERSIDE Lamarche 0 0-0 0, Snyder 0 3-4 3, Whittekiend 0 0-0 0, Thompson 2 1-6 6, Day 1 2-4 4, Stime 3 1-5 8, Wood 2 0-0 5, McMurphy 1 0-0 2, Shorts 1 1-2 3. Totals 10 8-21 31.

EAST VALLEY Cook 1 0-0 2, Porter 3 1-3 8, Jackowich 0 2-2 2, S.Olsen 4 0-0 8, Parsley 2 0-2 4, Overdorff 2 0-0 4, Combs 2 1-2 5. Totals 14 4-9 33.

3-point goals - Thompson, Stime, Wood, Porter. Total fouls - Riverside 16, East Valley 20. Fouled out - Wood. Technicals - None.

Boys

Riverside 65, West Valley 60

The Rams (16-6) joined the Frontier League only this year after long-time membership in the Northeast A League. Now they’re only one win away from making their debut season a memorable one.

Against WV, winner of six straight regular season championships, they had to weather a third-period storm that saw the Eagles turn a 14-point deficit into a five-point lead barely a minute into the fourth period.

WV trailed 40-26 after Riverside’s first hoop of the second half, but the Eagles scored 16 straight points in 2:46 to take a 42-40 lead, and they were up 50-45 after two baskets by David Schillinger to open the fourth quarter.

The Rams settled down, though, and when Frontier scoring leader Kasey Ahrens - quiet until then - joined the party with nine fourth-quarter points, the Rams pushed back into a 56-52 lead with 4:34 left. The Eagles got back within two twice after that, but when they trailed 63-60, Josh Sweet’s try for 3 went halfway down, popped out, and the Rams closed it out at the foul line, where they made 22 of 33 for the night.

West Valley 16 10 20 14 - 60

Riverside 21 17 7 20 - 65

WEST VALLEY Schillinger 7 2-4 17, Sweet 3 0-0 8, Whitney 3 1-1 8, Mortensen 0 1-2 1, Gerrells 0 0-0 0, Bonner 6 3-4 15, Gregorak 0 0-0 0, Pecht 5 0-0 11. Totals - 24 7-11 60.

RIVERSIDE Otto 0 0-1 0, Hodgson 4 0-0 10, Koesel 0 5-6 5, Lundberg 4 6-8 15, Monroe 3 7-11 14, Johnson 3 0-2 6, Hansen 0 0-0 0, Ahrens 5 3-4 14, Finch 0 1-2 1, Daubel 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 22-34 65.

3-point goals - Schillinger, Sweet 2, Whitney, Pecht, Hodgson 2, Lundberg, Monroe, Ahrens. Total fouls - WV 26, R 13. Fouled out - Gregorak, Lundberg.

Cheney 58, Pullman 55

The score was tied 39-all with 5:10 to play before the Blackhawks scored five straight points. Pullman (12-10) hit five 3s in the fourth period - 10 for the game - but the Greyhounds had to foul as they fell behind and Cheney made 10 of 13 free throws in the fourth period.

Richard DeMulling scored 20 points and had 14 rebounds for Cheney and Chad Randall scored 18.

Cheney 7 21 9 21 - 58

Pullman 9 12 10 24 - 55

CHENEY Randall 5 5-6 18, Battien 0 0-0 0, Urdahl 4 1-2 10, Parker 2 0-1 4, Malisani 1 0-0 2, Reiman 0 0-0 0, Olson 1 2-2 4, DeMulling 7 6-8 20. Totals 20 14-19 58.

PULLMAN Svingen 1 0-0 3, Berry 2 2-2 6, Wang 5 0-0 13, Donati 5 2-3 15, Wilde 1 2-4 4, Brown 0 0-0 0, Mirkovich 5 0-0 13, B.Cummings 0 0-0 0, Marong 0 1-1 1. Totals 19 7-10 55.

3-point goals - Randall 3, Urdahl, Svingen, Wang 3, Donati 3, Mirkovich 3. Total fouls - Cheney 12, Pullman 19. Fouled out - None. Technicals - None.

, DataTimes