Sje Boys, L-W Girls Advance To Title Games

Southeast B

St. John-Endicott used balance to stop seventh-ranked DeSales 61-46 Monday in a boys District 9-B Tournament semifinal at Washington State University’s Beasley Coliseum.

The Eagles (19-5) advance to the district championship on Friday against the winner of today’s 8 p.m. showdown between Garfield-Palouse and Waitsburg.

In Monday’s girls semifinal, LaCrosse-Washtucna (16-8) overcame a slow start to topple fifthranked DeSales 53-45 in overtime. The Tigercats play in Friday’s championship against the winner of today’s Tekoa-Oakesdale/ Waitsburg game.

Boys

SJE 61, DeSales 46

SJE coach Darrell Miller considered this a home game of sorts, and the Eagles played with the intensity and confidence he wanted to see.

Grant Bafus and Karl Scheuerman led the Eagles with 16 points apiece.

SJE built a three-point halftime edge into a 43-34 lead after three.

“There were not too many adjustments,” Miller said of the second half. “We were just more patient on offense. In the first half they got offensive rebounds. So we decided to take it to their big guys.”

DeSales (16-5), with the same players, made last year’s title game.

“We came out and knew they were going to be a tough team,” Bafus said. “We played with a lot of heart and intensity and came out on top.”

LaCrosse-Wash. 76, Asotin 63

Greg Whitman scored 17 of his 26 in the second half, totaling four 3-pointers and seven rebounds, as the Tigercats (9-15) eliminated the Panthers (7-17).

Cole Schweiger added 20 points and five assists, and Derek Henley four steals and 6-for-6 shooting from the line for L-W. L-W plays a loser-out at 2:30 Wednesday against today’s loser between Garfield-Palouse and Waitsburg.

Asotin’s Ryan Uptmor had 12 rebounds and six steals.

LaCrosse-Wash. 14 17 18 27 - 76

Asotin 15 14 14 20 - 63

LaCROSSE-WASHTUCNA - Colter 5, Schweiger 20, Henley 12, Wigen 4, Meyers 3, Stueckle 6, Whitman 26, Blankenship 0, Goll 0, Startin 0. Schneider 0.

ASOTIN - Neace 3, Eller 0, Ater 14, Larsen 10, Ambroson 0, Peer 0, Appleford 2, Hansen 0, Rozell 2, Weiss 5, Uptmor 18, Smith 9.

Girls

LaCr.-Wash. 53, DeSales 45 (OT) Kelly Larsen spits out the words as if she has said it a thousand times.

Her duties for the Tigercats: rebound and defense. She doesn’t mind a shot once in a while, too.

The junior followed her assignment, pulling down a team-high 12 rebounds and slowing down twins Amber and Erin Hellberg of DeSales (19-4). She scored seven points, including two free throws in the extra period. Larsen’s task wasn’t an easy one, as Amber and Erin were averaging a combined 31.2 points. The Twins were ‘held’ to 26.

“They’re pretty good penetraters,” said the 5-10 Larsen. “You just have to stay down and if you make a mistake just forget about it and go on.”

Picking up the scoring load was sophomore Christine Cronrath. She had a 3-pointer to open scoring in overtime, her third trey of the night, and finished with a game-high 19 points.

“She’s really been wanting this for a couple days and she was showing it at home,” said L-W coach Nathan Cronrath, Christine’s father.

The Tigercats forced the Irish into four second-quarter turnovers to overcome a six-point opening quarter and put them within two points at halftime.

The Irish were outrebounded 28-17 in the second half.

“They blocked out better in the second half,” DeSales coach Tim Duncan said of L-W. “We aren’t a very good rebounding team and haven’t been all year.”

Pomeroy 32, SJE 27

Jessica Henry had 15 rebounds and eight third-quarter points as the Pirates (12-12), despite shooting 21 percent from the floor, ended a remarkable string for the Eagles (11-13) in a loser-out game.

SJE had placed fourth or higher at state for five consecutive years.

Pomeroy plays a loser-out at 1 p.m. Wednesday against today’s loser between Tekoa-Oakesdale and Waitsburg.

Heather White and Breanna Schmick had six rebounds apiece for SJE, which shot just 9 of 50 from the floor.

SJE 0 9 7 11 - 27

Pomeroy 5 5 10 12 - 32

ST. JOHN-ENDICOTT - Ki.Colyar 3, Kjack 0, Stolmeier 0, Loomis 2, Schmick 8, Zuger 5, Gossard 2, Hedlund 4, White 3.

POMEROY - Appel 0, Cox 6, Gittins , Ausdle 0, Wolf 0, E.Heytvelt 0, McGreevy 4, Henry 12, Brandon 0, G.Heytvelt 10.