Dara Zack active part of Titans’ strong start

Only a sophomore and only three games into her varsity basketball career, University’s Dara Zack has already picked up a couple of nicknames.

Her coach, Mark Stinson, calls her Dennis Rodman with good citizenship. Some of her teammates, said Zack, “call me ‘The Janitor.’ I pick up the trash.”

In four games Zack has scored 29 points mainly by doing the dirty work, a la Rodman, around the basket. Undersized as a post at 5-foot-8, the first-year Titan varsity player chases down loose balls, rebounds and, as an added bonus, is scoring against taller foes

“I don’t think she knows who Dennis Rodman is, but she does the same thing,” he said. “She’s tenacious. We have people who shoot it. We need people who defend and rebound.”

That’s been Zack’s forte and in part, a reason why the Titans are off to an impressive 4-0 start.

Following U-Hi’s win last Friday over Snohomish, she said she was not intimidated by last year’s state semifinalists.

“I was more nervous against Central Valley,” she said. “This was just another game. I just want to work hard, and I have confidence in everyone on the team.”

U-Hi opened last Tuesday with a 76-48 win over Central Valley, beat Snohomish 68-56 after trailing early 17-4, topped Kentlake 67-34 in the East-West Classic series at Gonzaga University the next day and beat Gonzaga Prep 54-37 on Tuesday.

Sophomore Angie Bjorklund has averaged nearly 19.0 points per game, including 24 against Snohomish. Jami Bjorklund scored 21 against CV and 19 against Prep but was sidelined by a thigh bruise against Snohomish and played sparingly in the other two games. Emily Kuipers scored in double figures and provided clutch rebounding in each of the first three wins.

They are the constants from last year’s state qualifier. This year, improvement from the other returnees and depth provided by newcomers like Zack made for U-Hi’s fast start.

“It’s that energy factor and heart factor,” said Stinson of Zack. “You can’t teach it; a kid has it or doesn’t. She has it.”

Central Valley and East Valley compiled 2-1 records and West Valley was 0-2 during the first week of nonleague play. After losing to the Titans, the Bears beat the Knights, who had earlier beaten the Eagles, and Rogers.

CV’s Kayla LaRue had strong games, scoring 41 points in three games. EV stunned Clarkston 67-56 on Tuesday, Katie Story scoring 43 points in three games.

Eagles, Bears start strong

In the topsy-turvy GSL boys basketball league, West Valley is off to a 3-0 start with its virtually all-junior lineup, and new-look Central Valley has had a surprisingly strong start in winning three of four games.

The Eagles, despite their youth, were expected to be competitive and proved so with 64-54 and 53-47 wins over Valley foes East Valley and University, and 73-67 over North Central.

Post Tyler Hobbs is averaging 17.3 points and point guard Arton Toussaint 12.3 after Hobbs scored 24 and Toussaint 15 against the Indians. Guards Greg Bradley and Danny McIntyre improved to 9.7 and 8.7 respectively with double-figures efforts against the Indians. All are juniors.

“Hopefully we can keep that mindset,” said coach Jamie Nilles, of the myriad contributions of his youngsters following WV’s win over U-Hi. “We’re going to get great effort. They play harder than a lot of kids. But it’s a game of streaks, and it’s just how well they handle situations if they get in scoring droughts.”

CV was an untested entity with only three returnees, Braden Jensen, Brad Johnson and Tommy Kadoya, who saw substantial varsity time. None averaged five points per game last year.

So far, after beating U-Hi (1-2) in overtime 70-65 and EV (1-2) 67-57, holding state power Franklin to a halftime draw before losing 66-54 and beating Rogers 60-38 on Tuesday, the trio has been impressive.

Jensen scored 21 against Franklin. Kadoya scored 12 and 10 in the Valley wins and Johnson had 19 against Rogers. They are at or near double figures for the year, and new faces have provided an additional lift.

University stunned Gonzaga Prep 58-50 on Tuesday, transfer Kyle Olson hitting four of the team’s seven 3-point baskets. Main problem for U-Hi, like WV considered a GSL contender in preseason, in two earlier losses was impatience. Veteran post Calvin Jurich averaged 19 points per game.

The Knights stayed close to their Valley counterparts while the football players adjusted to a new sport, then shocked Clarkston 77-75 on Dylan Sattin’s 28-point outburst. He is averaging nearly 21 points per game. Post Jared Smith added 23. Jye Lanphere showed little effect from the football transition, averaging 12.7 in the three games.

Titans win Deer Park Invite

University, along with East Valley a favorite to win Greater Spokane League wrestling, had three champions among four finalists, plus eight other top four finishers to win last weekend’s Deer Park Invitational.

The annual tournament is the first of the new wrestling season for schools. U-Hi scored 231.5 points to beat Mt. Spokane’s 199 and didn’t use its full starting lineup.

“Everyone placed that I took,” said coach Don Owen, “And I didn’t bring seven of the better kids out there. I wanted to give younger kids a chance to wrestle.”

Chase Fish, 112 pounds, Trevor Robb, 140 and August Pope, 171, won tourney titles. Joey Korn was second at 189.

Third-placers were Ryan Williams, 125, Elliott Nay, 130, Matt Machala, 135 and Tim Owen, 152. Andrew Peterson, 160, Cody Allen, 189, Dono Totten, 215, and Joe Cox, 275 were all fourth.

East Valley opted out of the tournament, choosing instead a three-way dual match. The Knights beat North Central 64-9, Lakeside 44-23 and Warden 57-13.

“We tried something different,” said coach Craig Hanson. “I was anticipating the football team going one week deeper into the playoffs and thought I’d sit out Deer Park. It’s been annual thing since I’ve been here. In the duals you get to watch the kids one match at a time and critique them. I really liked that.”

Both the teams, along with West Valley and Central Valley will be part of the Inland Empire Classic at CV. Seventeen schools from the GSL, Idaho, the Big Nine and Mid-Valley Leagues will be involved beginning Friday night and concluding on Saturday with finals at 3 p.m..